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THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



EDWIN GILLIAM BOOTH, 



A PROMINENT 



LAWYER, LEGISLATOR, AND PHILANTHROPIST. 



COMPILED AND EDITED BY 

HENRY E. DWIGHT, M.D., D.D. 



" Integer Vitao et tenax propositi." — Horace. 




PR1N T ED BY 

J. B. LIPPIN C T T COMPAN Y, 

I' II I I. A DELPHI A. 

1886. • 






Copyright, 1886, by Henry E. Dwight. 



■lll fsriPFur, n ';"■"';! ■ ■■■•Jl_f»'j l>. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I'm: face 5 

CHAPTEE I. 

Value of Useful Lives. — Edward Gilliam Booth. — Origin. — Ancestry. — 
The James Kiver Estates. — William Henry Harrison and George 
Washington. — The "Sage of Monticello." — Primogeniture and Dis- 
establishment. — Three Worthies — Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards. 
— Religious Training. — Edwin at Winfield Academy. — Rev. Dr. Theo- 
dorick Pryor. — His long and useful Ministry. — Membership and Elder- 
ship in the Shiloh Church. — At Oxford Academy. — The University of 
North Carolina. — Edwin's Instructors. — The "Misfortune of a For- 
tune." — Praiseworthy Character as a Student ..... 9 

CHAPTER II. 

The Law-School of Judge Lomax. — Mr. Booth's Zeal as a Law-Student. 
— His Success. — Adverse Fortune. — Administrator dc bonis non. — Ac- 
tive Legal Practice. — Its eifect on his Character. — Retrieves his Losses. 
— Aids his Brother's Family. — His Studies in Oratory. — Reads Aris- 
totle, Plato, Cicero. — Moot-Courts. — Historical Studies. — International 
Law and National Codes. — Revision of the Laws of Virginia. — His 
Fitness for the Work. — First Marriage. — Rev. Dr. Pryor's Letter. — 
Profession of his Religious Faith. — Liberality of his Views. — Friend 
of Revivals. — His three Text-Books in Theology. — Remarkable Growth 
of the Nottoway Church. — His Severe Afflictions. — Source of his Con- 
solation. — Revival of 1838. — Effect on the Race-Course. — What became 
of the Veterans of the Turf 14 

CHAPTER III. 

A Member of the Virginia Legislature. — The Prime of Life. — The 
"House of Burgesses." — Some of its Founders. — The Greater Lights. 
— Peyton Randolph. — Richard H. Lee. — Patrick Henry. — The True 
Patriots — Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington. — 
The Fighting Generals — Morgan, Mercer, Clark. — Glorious Memories. 
—Effect on Mr. Booth.— 1847 to 1851— a Critical Period.— Able Law- 
yers in Demand. — The Virginia Constitution of 1876 compared with 
that of 18-32. — Improvement in Legislation. — Fundamental Truths 
Established. — Immense Labors of the Revisers. — Mr. Booth's Energy 
and Zeal in Revision. — His Training as a Politician in the Whig 
Party. — Urged to become a Candidate for Congress. — His Desire for 
Internal Improvements.- — Obtains the Charter for the South Side 
Railroad. — Importance of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. — Its 
Success. — His Account of this Great Artery and its Completion. — His 
Zeal for Agriculture. — Speech at the State Fair. — Need of Education. 
— Farmers make Good Statesmen. — The People Anxious to make 
him Governor. — Urged to become a Candidate. — Leading Papers ad- 
vocate his Candidacy. — Politics need not Interfere with the Welfare 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of Man or the Glory of God. — The Best Statesmen are the Most In- 
telligent Men. — The Importance of Well-Endowed Universities. — 
Speech at Independence Hall. — His Efforts to Promote the Endow- 
ment of Washington and Lee University. — His Eminent Associates 
in the Movement. — Their Signal Success ...... 21 

CHAPTEK IV. 

The Events of 1861.— Opening Year of the Civil War.— The Abolition 
of Slavery not then deemed Expedient. — Views of the Leaders — 
Messrs. Bell, of Tennessee; Everett, of Massachusetts; Crittenden, of 
Kentucky. — Efforts of Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio. — The Cabinet 
of Mr. Lincoln. — His Friend Robert E. Scott. — The Hampton Roads 
Conference. — Proclamation of Emancipation. — Mr. Booth's Zeal to 
Alleviate the Miseries of Military Prisons. — His Success. — The Hor- 
rors of War in Southeastern Virginia — An Entire Year in the Midst 
of the Conflict. — Resolves to Leave the Confederacy. — His Position 
as a Non-Combatant. — Secures the Confidence of both Presidents. — 
Begins his Journey in April, 1863. — Thirty Days from "Shenstone," 
Nottoway County, to Philadelphia via Bermuda, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
Boston, and Washington. — His Own Account of Blockade Running. — 
He attributes his Marvellous Escapes to the Hand of God. — The Sim- 
plicity of his Faith. — Moody and Sankey Revival of 1875-76. — Mr. 
Booth's Activity. — The Centennial.- — " Old Virginia" House. — Tribute 
to its Host. — Urged for Governor of Virginia. — Friends of his Child- 
hood, Manhood, and Riper Years. — The Clifton Houses at Richmond. 
— His Philanthropy based on his Faith in God 30 

CHAPTER V. 

Traits of Character. — Mr. Booth's Personal Appearance. — Force of 
Character. — Fervor of Piety. — His Genial Vivacity. — Good Sense. — 
Simplicity of Character. — Generosity and Humane Disposition. — Since 
the Civil War, Occasional Melancholy. — Causes. — Waste of his Ner- 
vous System. — Change of Place. — Numerous Resorts. — His Benevo- 
lence. — Who will bear the Cross? — In the Summer of 1885 he visits 
Virginia. — Attack of Malaria. — Relieved. — Severe Neuralgia in Octo- 
ber. — Spinal Meningitis. — Partially Relieved. — In January confined 
to Bed. — Closing Scenes. — Last Utterances. — Funeral. — Dr. Dickey's 
Address . . . 39 

CHAPTER VI. 

Change of Scene. — A Village Church. — Communion Sabbath. — An 
Aged Patriarch.- — The Voices of Nature and of Grace. — Funeral Ser- 
mon at " Shiloh."— Text: "He was a Good Man."— Faith and 
Works. — " He was also Just." — The Fruits of the Spirit. — Dr. Pryor's 
Testimony to the Work and Worth of his Life-long Friend. — Mr. 
Booth's Liberality in Heart and Life. — Dr. Dickey's Letter to Dr. 
Pryor. — "Our Members Die Well." — Transfer to Burlington, N. J., 
April 13, 1886. — Sweet Immortelles. — The Two Newly-made Graves. 
— Farewell 49 

APPENDIX. 

Tributes of Respect and Affection : 

Tributes of Respect .......... 61 

Voices of Friends ........... 68 

" He was a Good Man, — and a Just" 76 



PREFACE. 



Thomas De Quincey has said that " memoirs are like 
analogies, and serve as pontoons" to the reader. They 
are bridges over which we walk to thoughts, ideas, and 
discoveries high above the point of starting. They are 
mirrors, in which a man beholdeth his natural face in a 
glass, and thereby learns to pass from the world which 
now is to that which is to come. Thus we learn to hear 
the music of gentle and pious minds in all ages, and to 
use them as a glass by which we receive more light, in a 
wider field of vision, from the word of God. 

The nearer that the subject of this memoir was ap- 
proached, and the more that was seen of him in the 
retired and most familiar scenes of life, the deeper was 
the love and esteem which he awakened, the more 
minute, exact, and faithful in all respects the narrative 
of his life may be given. Such a narrative will only 
excite the more affectionate admiration in that wide 
circle of friends and relatives where he moved like a 
star, full of life and splendor and joy. 

That the history of such a life might prove satisfactory 
to those for whom it was prepared, careful researches 
were necessary, original documents must first be found, 
then transcribed, and much matter produced which had 
never before seen the light on a printed page. Whether 
the author has been successful or not in his attempt to 



b PKEFACE. 

do justice to the life and character of his friend, he must 
leave others to judge. 

It should be borne in mind, that to condense and 
select out of an immense mass of detail that which is 
really necessary to give a vivid picture of any life or 
character, is often far more difficult than to give a 
minute narrative of details. Among the side lights 
thus thrown upon the picture, are the facts connected 
with the early history of Virgina, the character of his 
maternal ancestors, the institutions at which he was fitted 
for life, and the era of his services as a legislator and 
reviser of the code of his native State. Points so im- 
portant should not be passed over as matters of uncer- 
tainty, and therefore liable to confuse the reader. Ref- 
erences to authorities have been given at the outset, to 
stimulate original research ; but the author has been 
sparing of them, because the majority of his readers are 
unable to consult them with advantage. The more im- 
portant works have been carefully studied, that opinions 
previously formed might be confirmed. From causes 
beyond his control he has been forced to curtail the his- 
tory of eventful periods in a life which might instruct 
and interest others, since nothing in such a career which 
enlightens the mind and elevates the feelings is opposed 
to the objects for which the work has been undertaken. 

In conclusion the author ventures to express the hope 
that this historical sketch may not only prove a source 
of comfort and consolation to those for whom it was 
designed, but to the intelligent reader everywhere. 

H. E. D. 



THE MEMOIR. 



CHAPTER I* 

Value of Useful Lives.— Edward Gilliam Booth.— Origin.— Ancestry.— The 
James River Estates.— William Henry Harrison and George Washington. 
— The "Sage of Monticello." — Primogeniture and Disestablishment. — 
Three Worthies — Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards.— Religious Training. 
— Edwin at Winfleld Academy.— Rev. Dr. Theodorick Pryor. — His long 
and useful Ministry. — Membership and Eldership in the Shiloh Church. — 
At Oxford Academy.— The University of North Carolina. — Edwin's In- 
structors. — The "Misfortune of a Fortune."— Praiseworthy Character as 
a Student. 

Napoleon the Great complained at St. Helena that 
all his mighty deeds in a few ages would be honored 
with only a few sentences in history. But in the Millen- 
nium those histories of life and character will be most 
read which portray the career of useful men. It is the 
duty of every age to perpetuate their memories. 

In the year 1810 (January 11), Edwin Gilliam Booth 
was born at Shenstone, Nottoway County, Virginia. He 
was the son of Gilliam and Rebecca Booth, nee Hicks, 
and his English ancestry for more than two centuries 
occupied " plantations" or " seats" in the southeastern 
counties of the Dominion. His maternal grandfather, 
Colonel Hicks, was one of the prominent officers of the 
Revolution, and rendered valuable services in those 
thrilling campaigns of Marion and Sumter in Virginia 

* The reader of the follow i w i — pages who may be interest eel in the bibliography of the subject, is referred 
to the following authorities as illustrating and enforcing the views ex] "in : 

mL~ MOC ..-.I I....... ..e .1... .1 .,....« ...,1 . .1... I >. ...tli TT^miti- tiilil,. • tti rf nt the Virciiiin TeTinpcopp 



ventinn, 17To: Virginia Code, Richmond, 1849; Views of Constitution, Richmond, 1850; General Conven- 
tion, State "f Virginia. Report. 1850; Journal House ol Deputies, 1851 to 1856; Norfolk and the Interior, 
Norfolk, 1852; Convention fo* Internal Iiii|>n.\ement, Whit e ■ . Iij52; New- Constitution by 

the Reform Convention of 1850-51, and the Amendments bj Convention of 1860-61; Arthur's and Howi- 
son'B History of Virginia; Davis's First Settlers of Virginia; Doyle's English Colonies in America; New- 
Virginia, 1870 to 1880. 



10 WESLEY, WHITEFIELDJ EDWARDS. 

and the adjacent States. Their tombstones still remain 
on property owned by W. Booth Taliaferro. Virginia 
is proud of being the mother of Presidents. Within a 
short distance, at Berkeley, on James River, adjoining 
Westover, on one of those magnificent estates, was the 
birthplace of General William Henry Harrison ; and 
not far away, on the banks of the Rappahannock, there 
came into the world a boy whose name was to fill a larger- 
place in history than any of the Stuarts, Hanoverians, or 
the great Tudor herself, after whom Virginia was called ; 
that boy was George Washington. 

But primogeniture and the established church were 
abolished more than a century since in Virginia by 
another President of the United States — the " Sage of 
Monticello" — and his friends. Prior to that revolution 
in the State, a traveller was returning from the more 
southern colony of Georgia to England. He was soon 
to set in motion the greatest moral revolution which the 
world has seen since the Christian era ; to establish the 
greatest schism since Luther, from a church of which he 
never ceased to be a loyal member ; to organize the 
strongest priestly order since Loyola, while disavowing 
authority to confer any orders in the church. That man 
was John Wesley, and while waiting for a passage to 
Bristol, preached Methodism to the people of the adja- 
cent region. As Wesley landed at Bristol, in England, 
George Whitefield, no less famous, but a very different 
apostle, was leaving its harbor for America, to lead the 
great religious reaction, already begun under Jonathan 
Edwards the Elder, from New England to Georgia. 

The labors of Whitefield and Wesley made an im- 
pression in the counties of southeastern Virginia. The 
grandparents of Mr. Booth, and subsequently his pa- 



EDWIN AT SCHOOL. — DR. I'RYOR. 11 

rents, became members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In describing the doctrines and policy of that 
church, Mr. Booth thus writes: "The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, the church of my father and my mother, 
has landed many thousands and can land as many more, 
from these low grounds of bickering and contention 
about the trifles and baubles of this world, on those 
celestial plains where the wicked cease from troubling 
and the weary are at rest." 

At the age of ten, young Edwin was sent to the Win- 
field Academy, in the county of Dinwiddie, Virginia, 
thus named after Major-General Winfield Scott, U. S. A. 
His preceptor while there was Daniel G. Hatch, of Har- 
vard College. While at that academy he formed the 
acquaintance of a youth five years his senior, which 
ripened into a life-long friendship, and which exercised 
an important influence over his subsequent career. 
That youth was Rev. Dr. Theodorick Pryor, of the 
Shiloh Church, Nottoway, who has been one of the most 
laborious, influential, and successful ministers in south- 
eastern Virginia for half a century. In 1826 he gradu- 
ated at Hampden Sidney College with the highest honor. 
After studying law at the University of Virginia, he 
practised for two years; but left the profession for the 
study of theology at Union Seminary, Virginia, and 
Princeton, New Jersey, and was licensed to preach in 
1832. In November he was called as pastor to the Not- 
toway Church, and served without cessation in that 
office until 1853, when he was invited to the Third 
Presbyterian Church, in Baltimore. He remained there 
one year, and then accepted a call to the Second Church, 
in Petersburg, Virginia, where he continued pastor till 
L863. During his pastorate the fine edifice on Wash- 



12 THE NOTTOWAY CHURCH. 

ington Street, Petersburg, was erected, the roll of com- 
municants doubled, and the congregation trebled. 

In the fall of 18G7 he accepted a second call to his 
first church at Nottoway, where he still remains, at the 
age of eighty, having built two new churches, one pur- 
chased and repaired, and another erected in that county. 
Such fruit in old age is marvellous indeed. Over six 
hundred persons were admitted under his ministry to 
the Nottoway Church. Among the earlier fruits of his 
labors was the subject of this memoir, who joined that 
church about half a century since on profession of his 
faith in Christ, and soon after was elected ruling elder 
of the same church. He retained his membership and 
eldership in that church until his death. In describing 
the friend of his boyhood, and the pastor of his riper 
years, Mr. Booth was accustomed to say, — " Dr. Pryor, 
during his long and laborious ministry, has preached 
the Calvinism of the Cross with unswerving fidelity, at 
the rate of three or four sermons a week, and in five 
churches at least in Virginia during his lifetime. Though 
he is sometimes weary in, he never wearies of the service 
of his Lord and Master." 

Edwin's chief preparation for college was at Oxford, 
North Carolina, where, after a studious course in the 
classics and mathematics, he was matriculated in the 
university at Chapel Hill in 1824, at the early age of 
fourteen. Perhaps no institution in the Southern At- 
lantic States has stood higher than this honored uni- 
versity, which is now nearly one hundred years old. 
While a student, young Booth enjoyed the instruction of 
such eminent men as Bev. Dr. Joseph Caldwell, a grad- 
uate of Princeton, for forty years its president and pro- 
fessor; Dr. E. Mitchell, for forty years professor of 



COLLEGE LIFE. 13 

chemistry, geology, and mineralogy, and Dr. Dennison 
Olmsted. Both of these gentlemen were graduates of 
Yale, and the latter was subsequently professor of natural 
philosophy for a quarter of a century in that university. 
Both have rendered signal service to the cause of science, 
Dr. Olmsted especially in astronomy. 

Although surrounded with eminent men as his fellow- 
students, and with such able instructors in the various 
chairs of the university, his extreme youth, and conse- 
quent inability to appreciate these advantages, interfered 
with the proper use of his time in the acquisition of 
mental discipline. While his college course influenced 
his character and suggested his friendships through sub- 
sequent life, he was wont to say that his failure to achieve 
high college honors was due " to the misfortune of afor- 
tune sufficient to prevent the exertion and application es- 
sential to the greatest success." His college friends recall 
" his deference to his superiors in age or learning, his 
diffidence, amounting almost to bash fulness, — owing to 
his extreme youth, — and his warmth of affection, which 
rendered him the fast friend of his classmates who needed 
assistance." Such a character is praiseworthy in a youth 
of fourteen. Subsequent embarrassments, brought on by 
the commercial speculations of an only brother, compelled 
him to make the necessary exertions for success in pro- 
fessional life — u Nulla vestigia retrorsum" 



CHAPTER II. 

The Law-School of Judge Lomax. — Mr. Booth's Zeal as a Law-Student. — 
His Success. — Adverse Fortune. — Administrator de bonis non. — Active 
Legal Practice. — Its eifect on his Character. — Eetrieves his Losses. — Aids 
his Brother's Family. — His Studies in Oratory. — Beads Aristotle, Plato, 
Cicero. — Moot-Courts. — Historical Studies. — International Law and Na- 
tional Codes. — Bevision of the Laws of Virginia. — His Fitness for the 
Work. — First Marriage. — Bev. Dr. Pryor's Letter. — Profession of his Re- 
ligious Faith. — Liberality of his Views. — Friend of Bevivals. — His three 
Text-Books in Theology. — Remarkable Growth of the Nottoway Church. 
— His Severe Afflictions. — Source of his Consolation. — Revival of 1838. — 
Effect on the Race-Course. — What became of the Veterans of the Turf. 

Fifty years since there was a law school in full oper- 
ation at Fredericksburg, Virginia, under the personal 
supervision of Judge John Taylor Lomax, professor in 
the University of Virginia and judge of the Court of 
Appeals, which bore the same relation to southeastern 
Virginia that the celebrated school at Litchfield, under 
Judge Gould, sustained to Connecticut. 

Among the students who were then prominent in that 
school was Edwin Gilliam Booth, whose diligence in the 
acquisition of legal knowledge was in direct contrast to 
his indifference to success at the university. His legal 
studies perfected his nature and were perfected by his 
experience. His natural abilities needed pruning by 
study, while his acquisitions were bounded by his obser- 
vation. He read law, not to contradict and confute, not 
even to take for granted, but to weigh and consider that 
it might be inwardly digested. His previous acquisitions, 
especially in the Latin language and literature, fitted him 
to understand the nice logical distinctions necessary to 

14 



STUDIES I .AAV. — ACTIVE PRACTICE. 15 

his professional studies. He Avas fluent in speech, for he 
had improved his powers in debate at Chapel Hill, and 
his simplicity of character was well known among men. 
He was the only one of the class graduating that year in 
the laAV school at Fredericksburg who received the signa- 
ture of Judge Lomax to his law license 

This act of his preceptor was designed as a special 
compliment for his diligence in legal studies, and was 
appreciated by his friends. He Avas now ready to return 
to Nottoway — his academic, collegiate, and professional 
studies finished — to commence the real work of life. His 
naturally ardent temperament led him to entertain hope- 
ful vieAvs of a laAvver's career. Amid the strifes of the 
forum and the debates of the legislature he needed an 
incentive to exertion. It soon came, but in a form least 
of all expected. Through the speculations of an only 
brother, previously mentioned, whose paper he largely 
endorsed, he was obliged to surrender every dollar of 
his property to Judge Thomas S. Gholson, by whom he 
Avas appointed administrator on his own estate, that is, 
the residue of it ; or, as he facetiously remarked, — " Ad- 
ministrator de bonis non of his own property." 

To secure a livelihood and retrieve his fortunes, he 
entered most vigorously upon the practice of laAV in the 
five southeastern counties of Virginia. As the clerk at 
Nottoway court-house expressed it, — "Mr. Booth's prac- 
tice is equal to that of all the lawyers at this (Nottoway) 
bar put together." He was well known in Petersburg, so 
that the business of a large number of linns and the 
executorship of many estates in that section came within 
his reach. His tall form might be daily seen, on a .-in- 
gle-seated gig, starting at an early morning hour to meet 
bis appointments at Petersburg or some one of the county 



16 ORATORICAL STUDIES. 

courts in its vicinity. By this variety in civil cases, he 
not only secured respectable acquisitions in his knowledge 
of the law and its practice, but that coolness and imper- 
turbable self-control so necessary to an active lawyer in 
conducting the cause of his client at court. He learned 
both the philosophy of the law and the expediency of its 
practice, as the cases daily came before his view through- 
out that region. 

Quickened by a sense of the responsibilities he had 
assumed, he retrieved his losses from Ills brother's spec- 
ulations, and was able to maintain the children of that 
brother. He made everything subservient to his prepa- 
ration for the pleading of cases. Since the days of 
Patrick Henry, eloquence has had great power in the 
courts and legislation of Virginia. He read Aristotle 
and Plato, as the great masters of thought and reasoning. 
He devoted much time to oratory. He studied every- 
thing he could obtain on the principles of the art, and 
heard the best orators in Virginia and at Washington as 
the means of improving his style. Cicero was his favorite 
author, and, as he declared in after life, there was not one 
of his orations which he had not translated. He ap- 
peared at moot-courts, to aid his power in extemporaneous 
debate and for the discussion of abstruse legal points. 
For these discussions he prepared himself with copious- 
ness and accuracy. He found time to pursue historical 
studies, for he was conscious of his inferiority in this 
department of his education. He naturally became 
acquainted, through such researches, with international 
law and with the codes of civilized nations, both ancient 
and modern. This led to his subsequent selection -by the 
Virginia Legislature, in 1841), in company with such 
eminent jurists as Judge Moncnre and Conway Robin- 



MARRIAGE. — PASTOR'S LETTER. 17 

son, Esq., for the codification of its laws. He cultivated 
the society of the best lawyers, and enjoyed their per- 
sonal intercourse on state and national occasions. He 
had profoundly studied our mixed constitutional forms 
of government, and always had something of importance 
to communicate to them. He had a sincere desire to he 
of service to his country, and he was animated by a noble 
aspiration after honorable fame. 

In the autumn of 1838 he married Miss Sally Tanner 
Jones, of Nottoway, and began legal practice about the 
same year that Kev. Dr. Pryor was' ordained and in- 
stalled pastor of the Nottoway Presbyterian Church. 

The following interesting letter from his aged and 
honored pastor admirably describes his relations as a 
friend, church member, ruling elder, and consistent 
Christian through life : 

'Nottoway C. H., Va., March 31, 1886. 
" Dr. Henry E. Dwight : 

" Dear Sir, — In compliance with a request from Dr. 
E. G. Booth, I forward a communication in reference to 
his father. 

"The late Mr. E. G. Booth was descended by both 
parents from the most respectable families in this com- 
munity. So far as my knowledge or belief extends, no 
charge affecting his character as a gentleman or Christian 
was ever alleged against him. It was my privilege and 
pleasure to enjoy his friendship and confidence through 
nearly the whole period of his life. It is a source of 
delightful gratification that there was never the slightest 
ripple of unpleasantness between us. The last time I 
saw Mr. B. was the day that I preached the funeral 
sermon of his lovely daughter, Fannie, In taking leave 



18 FEIEND OF REVIVALS. 

of me, lie remarked, with great earnestness, — ' We may 
never meet again in this world ; I do not know it is im- 
portant that we should.' Little did I think those solemn 
words would be so soon fulfilled. From my knowledge 
of Mr. B. through the whole course of his Christian life, 
it does not surprise me to hear that he died a peaceful 
and triumphant death. May the Lord sanctify the life 
and death of that ' good man and jusV to the church 
of which he was so long a distinguished member. Very 
truly and sincerly yours in Christian affection, 

" Theodokick Pryoe." 

He took a deep interest in the labors of his old class- 
mate at the Winfield Academy, and dates his hopeful 
conversion to God in the earlier years of Dr. Pryor's 
ministry. On August 30, 1838, he made a public pro- 
fession of his faith in Christ. Not long after he was 
made ruling elder in the Nottoway Church, and often 
attended Presbytery and Synod. His Presbyterianism 
was like that of his pastor, but modified by the memo- 
ries of his childhood and the Methodism of his parents. 
" I have stated that my parents were Methodists. I 
might add that, when sent to boarding-school, my almost 
second parents were Methodists, — Stith Thompson and 
his sainted wife, nee Warwick. The gates of Heaven 
never flew wider, nor did its arches ever reverberate 
sweeter music, than on their entrance into that blissful 
abode." He was a firm believer in revivals of religion, 
and loved to recount the wonders of God's grace which 
he had witnessed in Virginia. He could not bear the 
icy coldness of many professors, or the still colder 
theories which dominate their theology and produce 
their formalism. 



HIS BOOKS. — SEVERE TRIALS. 19 

He believed in the right of private judgment in re- 
ligion and in polities. He read his Bible daily, and the 
works of President Edwards, of Princeton, and Presi- 
dent Dwight, of Yale. He admired the reasoning of 
the former in his essay on the " Freedom of the Human 
Will," and the "Theological system of the latter ex- 
plained and defended in a series of sermons." Such a 
Presbyterian must at some time become an intelligent 
Christian, rooted and grounded in the faith, and ready 
for action. No wonder that with the Divine blessing, 
under such a pastor and elder, the brick church at 
Nottoway increased fourfold. 

His first wife died before the late civil Avar. From 
this marriage there were five children, viz., Dr. Edwin ^ffJ-*J 
G. Booth,/of Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, a r 
graduate in medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, 
well known in Virginia, and the only survivor ; his son, 
Archer Jones Booth, killed in the Shenandoah Valley 
during the civil war; his youngest child, William 
Travis, died early in the war; his youngest daughter, 
Sarah Tanner, died shortly after the war; and his 
daughter, Fannie It., died in Richmond, Virginia, June 
7, 1885. It is believed that Mr. Booth never recovered 
from the shock occasioned by these successive and severe 
bereavements, whereby all his children except his eldest 
son were taken from his side. How often he quoted 
these lines for his own comfort and consolation, — 

"Again the Saviour broughl me aid. 
Ami when he set me fr< 
Trust simply on my word. Be said, 
Ami Leave the real to me." 

There was the hiding of his power, there his strong 



20 TRUE PIETY. — THE TURF. 

tower and deliverer ! Some readers may be inclined to 
regard his experience as mere enthusiasm or fanaticism. 
Such a solution will not answer. Mr. Booth was too 
intelligent, too rational to be led away by religious delu- 
sions. Reasoning, as he himself was wont to do, from 
the effect to its adequate causes, we can only assign one, 
— the truth made effectual through the Holy Spirit. 
He had consecrated himself to Christ, and he was not 
ashamed of the Cross of Christ. In his public and 
private duties, as a citizen, a lawyer, a legislator, a father 
of a family, he was swayed by the spirit and principles 
of his Lord and Master. These comforted, controlled, 
and consoled him when everything else failed. In al- 
luding to this change in his own soul, he writes : " The 
revival to which I especially refer certainly included the 
30th of August, 1838, and many months preceding that 
date. It embraced nearly every prominent politician and 
citizen in the whole county. There was a famous race- 
track in that region, where the veterans of the turf, 
William R. Johnson and others, delighted to congregate 
and test the speed of the Virginia race-horses of the best 
blood in the spring or fall. When the races came on 
that Ml (1838), the president and both vice-presidents 
of the Jockey Club had become members of the Presby- 
terian Church. The proprietor failed, the whole place 
was sold and bought by a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. Such were the fruits. I never knew one of 
the subjects of that revival to abandon the faith and 
profession he then assumed." 



CHAPTER III. 

A Member of the Virginia Legislature. — The Prime of Life. — The "House 
of Burgesses." — Some of its Founders. — The Greater Lights. — Peyton 
Randolph. — Richard H. Lee. — Patrick Henry. — The True Patriots — 
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington. — The Fighting 

Generals — Morgan, Mercer, Clark. — Glorious Memories. — Effect on ^1 r. 
Booth. — 1847 to 1851 — a Critical Period. — Able Lawyers in Demand. — 
The Virginia Constitution of 1870 compared with that of 1852. — Im- 
provement in Legislation. — Fundamental Truths Established.— Immense 
Labors of the llevisers. — Mr. Booth's Energy and Zeal in Revision. — His 
Training as a Politician in the Whig Party. — Urged to become a Candi- 
date for Congress. — His Desire for Internal Improvements. — Obtains the 
Charter for the South Side Railroad. — Importance of the Norfolk and 
Western Railroad. — Its Success. — His Account of this (Jreat Artery and 
its Completion. — His Zeal for Agriculture. — Speech at the State Fair. — 
Need of Education. — Farmers make Good Statesmen. — The People Anx- 
ious to make him Governor. — Urged to become a Candidate. — Leading 
Papers advocate his Candidacy. — Politics need not Interfere with the 
Welfare of Man or the Glory of God. — The Best Statesmen are the Most 
Intelligent Men. — The Importance of Well-Endowed Universities. — ■ 
Speech at Independence Hall. — His Efforts to Promote the Endowment of 
Washington and Lee University. — His Eminent Associates in the Move- 
ment. — Their Signal Success. 

In the year 1847, Mr. Booth was elected from the 
Nottoway District (Amelia and Nottoway Counties) to 
serve in the Virginia Legislature for the sessions of 1848 
and 184'.). He had been for fifteen years steadily en- 
gaged in a large and lucrative practice, and had appeared 
in all the State courts as a barrister, and as a counsellor* 
in the Supreme Court of the United States of no ordi- 
nary merit. In the prime of manhood, — thirty-seven to 
forty years of age, — he was regarded by the best men in 
the State as a man of character, standing in society, and 
fitness for the position which he was now called to fill. 

21 



22 HOUSE OP BURGESSES. 

We must not forget the history of the Virginia House 
of Burgesses, as ready to raise the voice of eloquence as 
to shed the blood of self-sacrifice in the sacred cause of 
a nation's liberty. The aggressions of Great Britain were 
ever met in the American Revolution with firm and dig- 
nified remonstrance. The love of liberty was stronger 
than the bonds of custom, prejudice, or even the ties of 
blood. The passage of the Stamp Act fanned the fires 
of genius and high-souled patriotism. Among its mem- 
bers in 1765 was the attorney-general, Peyton Randolph, 
with his varied learning and profound judgment ; Rich- 
ard Henry Lee, imbued with classic lore and endowed 
with every grace of mind and person ; the accomplished 
Pendleton, the courteous Bland, Mr. Booth's relative, 
the fearless Wythe, and Patrick Henry, dignified and 
self-controlled, moving by his own splendid genius even 
the master minds of that assemblage, as he introduced 
into the House a series of resolutions in terms so firm 
and energetic that he carried his point notwithstanding 
the opposition with which he had to contend. In 1775, 
ten years later, in the venerable church which crowns 
one of the imperial hills on which Richmond is built, 
another assemblage of patriots met to hear the clarion 
voice of Patrick Henry for the last time, as he roused 
his countrymen to appeal to arms and to the God of bat- 
tles. Soon the red flash of artillery and the roar of the 
iron shot announced that the Revolution had begun. 

Throughout the contest Virginia was active in the 
council chamber and on the field. Patrick Henry set 
the ball in motion, and drove it forward by his eloquence. 
Thomas Jefferson had written the charter around which 
every State rallied. Richard Henry Lee supported in- 
dependence in the hour of danger. Randolph, Pendler 



ITS LEADERS, PATRIOTS AND GENERALS. 23 

ton, Mason, Wythe, Gut, Harrison, all encouraged the 
spirit of freedom. To the field, Virginia sent forth from 
her bosom George Washington to load the armies of 
America in triumph. Morgan left his home in the Shen- 
andoah to lead a forlorn hope at Quebec, to drive the 
enemy before him at Saratoga, and to overwhelm Tarleton 
at the Cowpens. Mercer fought and bled at Princeton. 
Stevens gathered laurels at Guilford. Clarke penetrated 
the wilderness and conquered a new empire for his coun- 
try. Amid such memories Mr. Booth took his seat in 
the House, surrounded by the sons of those who had 
achieved such victories. Not only political but religious 
freedom had been secured. Disestablishment was sure 
through the passage of that celebrated act written by 
Mr. Jefferson, whose principles lie at the very foundation 
of our dearest rights, essential to the true prosperity both 
of church and state. 

The period from 1847 to 1851 was a critical period in 
the history of the Legislature of Virginia. Mr. Booth 
was prevailed upon to represent his native county in the 
House, in view of the revision of the laws of the State, 
which excited a large measure of public attention. Such 
gentlemen as the Hon. Richard G L. Moncure, the at- 
torney-general of the State, resigned his position and 
entered the House as delegate from Stafford for a similar 
reason. With the same intent Conway Robinson, Esq., 
one of the ablest railway lawyers in the country, Burr, 
Harrison, John M. Patton, Robert E. Scott, Whittle, and 
Smith, of the House, and Messrs. Thompson, Witcher, 
Sloan, Kinney, and Ambler, of the Senate, representatives 
of the best legal talent of the State, all took part in the 
revision and codification of the civil laws of Virginia. 

The gravity of the situation is properly realized when 



24 CONSTITUTIONS OP 76 AND 52. 

Ave think that the organic law of the State was to be set 
aside; the Constitution of 1776, adopted five days before 
the Declaration of Independence, with such sponsors as 
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, 
Peyton Randolph, and George Mason, was to he over- 
thrown, and a new constitution, with a new civil and 
criminal code of laws, to be framed, discussed, and finally 
passed by both Houses. Think of the time required, 
X nearly five years, before the work was completed. 

The Constitution of 1770 was a great advance on those 
of Great Britain and the continent. It recognized the 
principle that a limit should be set upon all the powers 
of human government; that absolute power, wherever 
lodged, — in a monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, — is 
despotism in disguise. Hence it followed that there are 
certain personal rights, sacred rights of the individual, 
which cannot be intrusted to government, 

But the Constitution of 1852 proclaims the authority 
of the people as a fact, not as an abstraction. It confers 
the right of suffrage upon all citizens who are in a con- 
dition to exercise an independent judgment and express 
their free choice, while all magistrates — legislative, execu- 
tive, and judicial — are eligible by those among whom they 
administer their functions. Such a constitution, and the 
laws necessary for its proper administration, required the 
most careful consideration and the greatest wisdom in 
their enactment. No wonder that the people called the 
best men in the State to their councils. 

The labor performed was continuous and exacting. 
The conferences were numerous, and the amendments 
equally so. Mr. Booth bent his whole energies and gave 
all his legal experience and learning to this work. In 
the committee and in the House of Delegates he took a 



POLITICS. — INTERNAL IMPKOVEM ENTS. 25 

leading part in the discussion of the bills which were re- 
ported. These labors on his part, as evinced by bis MSS. 
notes, are indicative of a clear understanding of the points 
at issue. Expressed in apt language, they lay down sound 
principles of law. His labors, with those of his colleagues, 
received the sanction and approbation of the legal profes- 
sion throughout the State, the almost unanimous vote of 
both Houses of the legislature, the executive sanction, and 
the favor of the people. 

Mr. Booth breathed the same air with the founders of 
our Republic, and learned in childhood to revere the mem- 
ories of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. 
He listened with delight to Clay, Webster, Benton, and 
McDuffie. In such society he learned all that was patri- 
otic in the Federalists, or enlivening and ennobling in 
their lineal successors, the Whigs of the first half of the 
nineteenth century. He was a Whig by nature, by edu- 
cation, and in party politics, and in what political school 
could better men be found than anions; the Whigs and 
Federalists of the first century of our national history? 
So highly was his work in the legislature appreciated by 
his constituents, that during the next decade (1850-60) 
he was urged at three several elections to be a candidate 
for Congress, but declined. He felt that he could be 
more useful in other forms. He foresaw that around the 
( Jhesapeake the land would come into garden tillage, as 
there were, over twenty-eight million acres of unimproved 
land in the State, and that the Northern cities could easily 
be supplied with fruit and vegetables from Virginia, if 
there could be internal improvements. 

He was trained in the same school with the Father of 
his Country, — and George Washington, planter, of Vir- 
ginia, was the father of our American system of internal 



26 "south side" railroad. 

improvements. Washington's canal of seven miles round 
the falls at Richmond adds two hundred and twenty miles 
to the barge navigation of the river, and makes a water 
highway to the mountains. 

Edwin G. Booth, while in the legislature at Richmond, 
carried through the charter and was a leading director of 
the South Side Railroad, an important integer of the 
Norfolk and Western Railroad, connecting Norfolk with 
Bristol, Tennessee, via Lynchburg. This was also a 
branch of the Atlantic, Ohio, and Mississippi Railway, 
one of the principal arteries of communication between 
the Atlantic coast and the great West, 

He thus describes his own motives in projecting this 
important internal improvement in Virginia. " I believe 
it was in May that a brilliant party of ladies and gentle- 
men left Philadelphia, by invitation of the railroad au- 
thorities of Virginia, on an excursion through that State. 
It so happened that a majority of those for whose in- 
vestments this compliment was designed, voted with the 
Republican party. They were met at the State line by 
special cars, freighted with choicest viands, carried 
through the State with a magnificent hospitality, and not 
a cent asked for any accommodations. The poor reaped 
the whole pecuniary harvest. We entered Virginia at 
the Potomac River and passed through to Bristol, Ten- 
nessee, including the Norfolk and Western Railroad. 
The Philadelphia investments have been more than tens 
of millions in that region, if accessible calculations are 
correct." 

The same public spirit led him to take a deep interest 
in the State Agricultural Society. He always w r ent to 
the State Fair, and was a leading member of its Execu- 
tive Committee. In an address to the cultivators of the 



STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 27 

soil, at one of the annual State fairs, lie said. — "As we 
near the horizon at evening, which conceals the land- 
scape of the earth beyond us from view, how glorious is 
the full-orbed splendor of the king of day ! Thus cheer- 
ing are the bright beams of an illustrious example of 
patient continuance in well doing to those who seek for 
glory, honor, and immortality ! Though the real treas- 
ures of earth may have heen ' expressed ahead' to the 
land of pure delight, the prospective is not marred, while 
the retrosjK'ct often converts princes into beggars, and 
their palaces into poor-houses. What is labor and who 
are the laborers? Are not lawyers, trimming the mid- 
night lamp, physicians, ministering to the afflicted, min- 
isters, dispensing the bread of life, all laborers ? Farmers 
make your own application to, the cultivation of the earth. 
Without it none of the others could live at all. The 
rich labor for an appetite, the poor to satisfy one. It is 
labor properly applied and directed which maintains 
both. 

" For this we need education in agriculture, the educa- 
tion of every child in every county throughout the State. 
Every city and every town is burdened for want of it ; 
burdened with debt and taxation, and sometimes with 
sorrow and shame. Think of it : in the export of pea- 
nuts, an unknown crop before the war, Virginia has 
raised nearly one million dollars annually. In the fires 
of civil war we have sacrificed two thousand million dol- 
lars and eight hundred thousand lives, for want of such 
education as I plead for. Intelligent farmers easily find 
a solution of such problems as civil service reform, silver 
coinage, paper currency, free trade, protective tariff, 
freedom of the ballot, prohibition or license, the Chinese, 
the Indians, the Mormons, and other issues sure to arise." 



28 HIS ZEAL, FOR SOUND LEARNING. 

No wonder that a man who could utter such sentiments 
was so popular with his constituents that they were in 
earnest to make him Governor of Virginia. He was 
met by bands of music and had to make speeches from 
the platforms of cars. They regularly prepared stands, 
and all this from his desire for peace and union between 
the different States, and their improvement in agriculture 
and education. 

Mr. Booth's devotion to politics did not prevent his 
activity for the welfare of man and the glory of God. 
Because he was a Virginia statesman he did not forget 
that he had been a scholar. He always cherished the 
memory of his Alma Mater, and claimed, with good 
reason, that men made wise by learning were free from 
slavish deference to foreigners in matters of government. 
He asserted with* earnestness that Jefferson had the best 
private library in Virginia, else he never could have 
written the Declaration of Independence or founded the 
University of Virginia. He showed, from the history of 
our government, that the Constitution was principally 
formed by men of high education and scholarly attain- 
ments, and that the state papers in the Federalist were 
written not only by men of genius but of laborious ac- 
quisitions, the result of extensive reading and diligent 
research. 

In his speech at Independence Hall, October 10, 1876, 
in behalf of the better endowment of Washington and 
Lee University, at Lexington, Virginia, — an effort made 
by patriotic citizens throughout the country to restore 
the feelings of harmony and love which once prevailed, 
and to make them perpetual, — Mr. Booth said, — " The 
English rebellion of 1649 and our American Revolu- 
tion are strikingly distinguished from other insurrec- 



BIS COMRADES, THEIR SUCCESS. 29 

tions among us, and particularly from the French Revo- 
lution. 

"The English and American statesmen of those two 
periods contended for truths, the French atheists and 
philosophers for interests; the former learned their 
duties, the latter their rights; the one was inspired by 
principle, the other by passion. Hence high statesman- 
ship and pure patriotism are the fruit of a generous 
culture in the knowledge of history and political philos- 
ophy, if we are to have safe guides for this nation on the 
highway of advancing civilization." He was pleading 
for the re-establishment of an ancient university in his 
native State, devastated by war. He spoke from the ex- 
perience and observation of a long life, during which he 
had witnessed the election or succession of seventeen 
Presidents, the impeachment of one, the assassination of 
two, a civil war, and the return of peace. 

In these views he was supported by the special efforts 
and approval of such eminent jurists as Chief- Justice 
Waite and Justice Strong, of the Supreme Court; and 
such statesmen as Hons. Robert C. Winthrop, William 
M. Evarts, George F. Hoar and Charles Francis Adams. 
Their wisdom has been confirmed by the magnificent 
result of these efforts in the collection of over seven 
hundred thousand dollars for the funds of the Washing- 
ton and Lee University. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Events of 1861.— Opening Year of the Civil War.— The Abolition of 
Slavery not then deemed Expedient. — Views of the Leaders — Messrs. 
Bell, of Tennessee; Everett, of Massachusetts ; Crittenden, of Kentucky. 
— Efiorts of Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio.— The Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln. 
—His Friend Kohert E. Scott. — The Hampton Eoads Conference. — Proc- 
lamation of Emancipation. — Mr. Booth's Zeal to Alleviate the Miseries 
of Military Prisons. — His Success. — The Horrors of War in Southeastern 
Virginia — An Entire Year in the Midst of the Conflict. — Resolves to 
Leave the Confederacy. — His Position as a Non-Combatant. — Secures the 
Confidence of both Presidents. — Begins his Journey in April, 1863. — 
Thirty Days from "Shenstone," Nottoway County, to Philadelphia via 
Bermuda, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Boston, and Washington — His Own Ac- 
count of Blockade Running. — He attributes his Marvellous Escapes to the 
Hand of God. — The Simplicity of his Faith. — Moody and Sankey Revival 
of 1875-76.— Mr. Booth's Activity.— The Centennial.— " Old Virginia" 
House. — Tribute to its Host. — Urged for Governor of Virginia.— Friends 
of his Childhood, Manhood, and Riper Years. — The Clifton Houses at 
Richmond. — His Philanthropy based on his Faith in God. 

In the eventful year 1861, the first of the civil war in 
the United States, Mr. Booth was fifty-one years old. 
As a Whig he supported Messrs. Bell and Everett, and 
like most of his cotemporaries did not then believe that 
the abolition of slavery was the sine qua non of any ad- 
justment. Like Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, he saw 
that " secession meant emancipation by blood." 

Well-known facts favored such views. The plans for 
adjustment by the Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, in 
January preceding the' war, did not imply abolition. 
Mr. Lincoln, in the formation of his Cabinet, was in con- 
ference, it was said, with such men as the Hon. Alex- 
ander Stephens, of Georgia, and with no such condition 

for reconciliation as abolition. Mr. Booth knew that a 
30 



SECESSION. — CIVIL WAR. — PRISON. 31 

Cabinet appointment had been offered to his friend and 
associate in legislation and revision, Robert E. Scott, 
Esq., through the agency of Hon. William Seward. 
"I did not hesitate," he writes, "to advise and urge his 
acceptance, but too late to retract his previous action." 
The Hampton Roads Conference revived the hopes of 
the peace-makers in Virginia, who were composed 
mainly of the Whigs, only to be dashed into hopeless 
annihilation by the destructive slavery element, The 
proclamation of emancipation rendered slavery a broken 
limb, and its amputation most desirable to the body 
politic. 

The war came and Virginia was destined to be the 
battle-ground for both armies. Within easy distance of 
his native hearth, where his children were gathered at 
even-tide, his wife sleeping beneath the sods of the val- 
ley, and two sons on the tented field, were the battle- 
grounds around Richmond and Petersburg, Big Bethel 
and Dutch Gap. The nine fearful conflicts in the Chick- 
ahominy region, between the James and York Rivers, — 
Malvern Hill, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness, — 
what spectator will ever forget them ? And yet this non- 
combatant heard the roar of cannon and the clash of 
arms, and witnessed the daily havoc of fratricidal strife 
for more than a year. What could he do to relieve this 
misery? 

He sought to alleviate the miseries of military prisons, 
and wrote to the officer in command at Fort Delaware, 
stating "that he did not desire him to violate known 
duty, hut to note how far, in the discharge of that duty, 
lie might assist his friends or the sons of his friends who 
were in prison." The permit in government envelope 
soon came, and he was able to relieve twenty-seven cases 



32 HE LEAVES THE CONFEDERACY. 

with clothing and necessaries, — exceeding one hundred 
dollars in each case. 

Among the prominent business men of Philadelphia, 
during the first half of this century, was Mr. Elihu 
Chauncey, second son of Judge Chauncey, of Connec- 
ticut, who was remarkably successful in business. His 
connection with the Bank of Pennsylvania as cashier, 
with the Reading Railroad during its early history, and 
with other internal improvements which, by his influence, 
were successfully carried forward to completion, will not 
be forgotten by those who seek, for the prosperity of 
Philadelphia. On the death of his beloved wife, the 
conduct of the household and, in some measure, the 
management of affairs devolved on his daughter, Miss 
Henrietta Chauncey, who remained his constant com- 
panion till his death. 

After having endured for a year, within sight of his 
own house, the clash of arms and the noise of war, Mr. 
Booth resolved to leave the Confederacy, with matrimo- 
nial intentions, previously existing, and to visit Philadel- 
phia. To accomplish this journey in April, 1863, was 
no ordinary undertaking. It is a remarkable fact, that 
through a friendly invitation he took breakfast with Presi- 
dent Davis, of the Confederacy, in his mansion, in company 
with one of the present Southern senators, and in about 
thirty days or less with President Lincoln, at the White 
House. As a non-combatant, he had conducted himself 
without the least equivocation, concealment, or insincerity, 
so that he might be able to command the confidence and 
consideration of both Presidents, from each of whom he 
obtained a permit to go on his way rejoicing. Till the 
day of his death he carried in his coat pocket the telegram 
of President Lincoln, bearing date April 27, 1863, with 



RUNS THE BLOCKADE. 33 

his well-known signature on the back of it. Divine 
Providence favored his plans by enabling him to run the 
blockade as the protector of a highly-esteemed relative 
and her little children, desirous to join her husband in 
the West Indies. On the banks of Bermuda Island he 
surrendered his charge, landing safely from the ship 
" Cornubia," which had twenty-seven shots fired at her 
on a previous trip, and was captured soon after and taken 
into Philadelphia ; but he was unmolested. A British 
steamer being ready, he took passage for Halifax, Nova 
Scotia. Judge Jackson, of Illinois, was at that time 
the United States Consul at Halifax. To him Mr. Booth 
made known the object of his visit, and his reply was, — 
" I am going to Washington next week and will write to 
yon." Prior to his return the telegram from President 
Lincoln arrived, and, feeling secure from every kind of 
interruption, Mr. Booth took a British steamer touching 
at Halifax for Boston. From Boston he passed through 
New York to Philadelphia, thence to Washington, where 
he was greeted at the White House with the announce- 
ment that "President Lincoln would see Mr. Booth." 
With the President's permit he returned to Philadelphia 
without the slightest hindrance, where his marriage oc- 
curred in about ten days with Miss Henrietta Chauncey, 
the daughter of Mr. Elihu Chauncey, of Philadelphia. 
What a marvellous change ! To be transferred from the 
incessant roar of cannon and the conflict of armies in daily 
strife in Virginia to the ease of a comfortable home on 
West Walnut Street, Philadelphia. His own account will 
explain his emotions at the joyful result. " To me, the most 
remarkable, and perhaps the most interesting personal 
occurrence during the war, is presented in the experience 
of that blockade expedition, embellished by interesting 



34 FAITH IN GOD. — GLOKIOUS REVIVAL. 

incidents not to be forgotten." In the great risks which 
he ran at this period, and the marvellous escapes that he 
experienced, he saw the hand of God. He thus expressed 
his own feelings : " My faith, hope, and love cannot rest 
upon the transitory objects of this world, but extend 
beyond to that which is perfect, eternal, and infinite. I 
must have recourse to a diviner power than I find on 
earth to relieve me in danger or necessity. The proper 
object upon which my faith, hope, and love can rest is God 
alone, where they are never placed in vain or remain 
long unrequited." This was the basis of certain great 
excellences and exemplary virtues in his character, some- 
times discredited by unpopular natural infirmities, the 
greatest of which" were a hasty way of expression and the 
belief that innocence of heart and integrity of life would 
secure a man in his voyage through this world. The 
promise to all Christians, "To keep them in all their 
ways, that they dash not their feet against a stone," 
admits of exceptions according to God's will and pleasure. 
In 1875-76, from November to February, there was a 
great religious revival, caused by the visit of Messrs. 
Dwight F. Moody and Ira T. San key to Philadelphia. 
The freight depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at the 
southwest corner of Thirteenth and Markets Streets, was 
converted into a spacious auditorium for the religious 
gatherings of all classes in the population, fitted and fur- 
nished with admirable taste and great convenience for the 
throngs who assembled daily at three services, from No- 
vember 21, 1875, to January 28, 1870. Nearly twelve 
thousand persons were present at the first meeting. 
Every day and night for seventy days these gatherings 
continued, and so many were unable to get access to the 
building that extra meetings were held simultaneously 



THE CENTENNIAL OF 1876. 35 

in the Arch Street M. E. Church, First Baptist, Broad 
and Arch Streets, and the Tabernacle Presbyterian, 
Broad and Penn Square. There was no more regular 
attendant or earnest worker at those meetings than 
Edwin G. Booth. With a large edition of a tract from 
his own pen, entitled the "Personality of the Holy 
Spirit," lie might be seen conversing and praying with 
anxious inquirers after the Cross of Christ and the 
Saviour who suffered thereon. Through this wonderful 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the membership of the 
evangelical churches in Philadelphia, was increased by 
many thousands of converts, and the meetings were at- 
tended, as safe judges assert, by over a. million of people. 
Eternity alone will reveal the vast accessions to the 
names then inscribed in the Book of Life. 

In May, 1876, the great Centennial Celebration and 
Exposition was opened at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 
The signal success which attended that exhibition is too 
well known to require mention. But the part played by 
Edwin G. Booth in that exhibition will never be forgot- 
ten by those who witnessed it. When the Legislature of 
Virginia, from various reasons, failed to provide the 
necessary State building for the accommodation of its 
citizens, Mr. Booth, influenced by a purely patriotic 
spirit, erected the " Old Virginia Building" among those 
magnificent tulip poplars, with their solid shade so grate- 
ful in the scorching sun of August, 1876. One register 
alone contained fifteen thousand signatures, and perhaps 
not one in a hundred enrolled their names. The com- 
fort and refreshment furnished by his genial hospitality 
to so many applicants will ever remain as among the 
grateful reminiscences of that ever-memorable exhibition. 
The Richmond Whig thus spoke of him, — "Day after 



36 "OLD VIRGINIA, HIS FRIENDS. 

day, week after week, for six months, Edwin G. Booth, 
unaided and alone, after a majority of the legislature bad 
refused to participate in her Centennial, at his own ex- 
pense, erected the ' Old Virginia' building, and then 
welcomed all, not only from this State, but all of all 
shades, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and 
the islands of the sea. He entertained them with that 
genial hospitality with which he receives his own guests 
at Nottoway. Thus has this State, in spite of her poli- 
ticians, maintained an honorable place in the Centennial 
of the United States and of the nations, while Mr. Booth 
has stood as the representative man of Old Virginia." 
In the same strain, papers from all parts of the State, 
with individuals of influence in the cities and large 
towns, urged his nomination for Governor of Virginia by 
popular acclamation. In his reply to their solicitation 
he is prompted by jmtriotism and modesty to say, — " The 
inquiry from many friends of my native county, the 
esteemed companions of my youth, manhood, and ma- 
turer years, who have served me professionally, person- 
ally, and politically, and whom I have served, could 
only excite the tenderest appreciation, and cause a will- 
ing response to leap from my bosom at the mere idea of 
reviving such endearing associations." 

He loved the friends of his childhood. He had grown 
up in the Nottoway district with such men as Governor 
Giles ; Benjamin Watkins Leigh, a master spirit in de- 
bate ; John Y. Mason, afterwards Minister to France ; 
Hon. John Winston Jones, a lawyer of note. 

In his early manhood he knew intimately — for his 
correspondence confirms it — such men as William Gas- 
ton and John Stanley, of North Carolina, the brilliant 
lights of that State at the bar and in politics. In the 



THE CLIFTON HOUSES. 37 

class before Mr. Booth, at Chapel Hill, were Judge Pier- 
son and Judge Manly, who was his college tutor, and 
the son-in-law of the orator, William Gaston. William 
A. Graham, twice governor, was his college mate and 
guest, with Judge Manly, at Philadelphia. At the Cen- 
tennial, such men as General Hawley of Connecticut, 
General Fitz Lee, of Virginia, Hon. Samuel J. Randall, 
of Pennsylvania, and Senator Withers, of Virginia, 
partook of his hospitality at the " Virginia Building." 
After his removal to Philadelphia, he was constantly in 
association with such men as Judges Strong, Woodward, 
and Sharswood, and among the clergy, Rev. Albert 
Barnes, Rev. Drs. John Chambers, Zephaniah Hum- 
phrey, and Charles A. Dickey. 

In one of the principal streets of Richmond, the capi- 
tal of his native State, stand two finely-situated resi- 
dences, which, to a casual observer, might appear to be 
the homes of wealthy citizens, who lived amid scenes of 
ease and even luxury. Lord Bacon says, — " The greatest 
results hang on the smallest causes." Mr. Booth never 
waited for great occasions to do a great service. The his- 
tory of the Clifton Houses, in Richmond, and of Mr. 
Booth's interest in their foundation, for the " mainte- 
nance of sick, disabled, and indigent females," reflects 
the greatest praise on his kindness of heart and energy 
of purpose. On the small pivots of words and acts of 
a single individual swing the great events of life. Mr. 
Booth desired to consecrate those buildings to a noble 
purpose. For this he prayed and labored day by day 
until others were interested, and now we see the work 
ably carried forward by the Ladies' City Mission for 
Charities. That home for suffering women called forth 
his warmest sympathies. The lonely wanderers who 



38 " PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT." 

gather around that hearth will repeat his name with joy 
as their hearts brightened at his coming, for he created 
their home where they enjoy the pleasures of domestic 
and social life. 

Mr. Booth was an ardent Christian, not only in his 
theology but in practical life. He could not find any 
order or trustworthiness in the world without a personal 
God to produce and regulate its affairs. To his mind 
the cause of all things must be an eternal and all-em- 
bracing mind. With him this was the common sense of 
experience, and the basis of all scientific theories. With- 
out this faith in God, he could not even justify the ex- 
perience of daily life, or explain his confidence in the 
uniformity and stability of worlds unknown, or give a 
reason for the hope that was in him. His tract on the 
agency of the Holy Spirit gives abundant proof of this 
element in his piety. 



CHAPTER V. 

Traits of Character.— Mr. Booth's Personal Appearance.— Force of Charac- 
ter.— Fervor of Piety.— His Genial Vivacity.— Good Sense.— Simplicity 
of Character. — Generosity and Humane Disposition. — Since the Civil War, 
Occasional Melancholy. — Causes. —Waste of his Nervous System.— 
Change of Place.— Numerous Resorts. — His Benevolence.— Who will bear 
the Cross?— In the Summer of 1885 he visits Virginia. — Attack of Ma- 
laria.— Relieved.— Severe Neuralgia in October.— Spinal Meningitis.— Par- 
tially Relieved. — In January confined to Bed.— Closing Scenes. — Last 
Utterances. — Funeral. — Dr. Dickey's Address. 

In describing the life and character of a departed 
friend, I desire to guard against the partiality of unre- 
served friendship in which we lived for more than twenty 
years. If such a friendship is supposed to bias the 
judgment, it must be allowed to have enlightened it. If 
I attempt to describe his person or mark the shades of 
his character, a credible rather than an exact likeness 
will be the result. 

Mr. Booth was above the ordinary stature, being full 
six feet in height. He never was fleshy, and moved 
with ease, elasticity, grace, and dignity. His gait, as 
well as his whole bearing, was that of one trained as a 
horseman, who might have been in camp rather than at 
college during early life. He had a broad, high fore- 
head, eyebrows moderately bushy, eves large, blue, rather 
grayish. His nose was prominent, slightly aquiline. 
His lips were firm, well chiselled, gently compressed, and 
the corners of his mouth usually appeared as of one 
bearing a benignant smile. His chin was broad and 
prominent, giving the aspect of solidity and firmness to 



39 



40 PERSONAL TRAITS. 

the whole countenance. His complexion in middle life 
was ruddy and healthful. His head was large, clothed 
with a moderate covering of chestnut hair. It was his 
eye, however, which was the striking feature in his whole 
countenance. Calm, mild, benevolent, outshadowing 
every thought, feeling, emotion of the soul without effort. 



U r 



Throne of expression ! whence his spirit's ray 
Poured forth so oft the light of mental day ; 
Where fancy's fire, affection's mental beam, 
Thought, genius, passion, reigned in turn supreme." 

But the native vigor of his mind, force of character, 
and the fervor of his piety surmounted every obstacle 
in the court-room, legislature, presbytery, or synod, where 
he rose to prominence among his contemporaries, with 
such men in the ministry as Hoge, Alexander, Rice, and 
Pryor, and with laymen like Judge Moncure, Robert E. 
Scott, and Conway Robinson. There was a flow of good 
sense, vivacity, and wit in his intercourse with others, 
which made him a most agreeable companion. His con- 
versation, even when in poor health, was lively, by reason 
of his very general information. Every person could 
see that he thought for himself without supposing that 
he monopolized the privilege. He never forced his opin- 
ions u}3on friends, except as reason constituted force. No 
one could forget the courage lie showed when warning 
and rebuking the skej)tic. No false delicacy prevented 
the honest expression of doubt, and when satisfied his 
approval was equally hearty and decisive. He was never 
censorious. 

He sought for knowledge from pure motives, not to 
erect himself above his fellow-men, or to secure his own 
private advantage ; but he sought the possession of that 



ELEMENTS OF POWER. 41 

p 0wer _the expression of the highest human knowledge, 

1,, reign supreme over himself, to subdue his passions 

to his will, his will to his reason and conscience. It was 
the moral element which imparted force to his opinions 
and real excellence to his judgment. Hence, he drew 
others to himself in strong personal attachment, By 
gentleness, sympathy, and justice he made personal 
friends. His simplicity and directness were striking 
traits of his character. Affectation would have been 
impossible to him. In every circle and in every position 
he was modest and dignified, and often seemed uncon- 
scious of his own personality. Private enemies worthy 
of notice he had none. His friends were grappled to 
him with hooks of steel. Humane and generous, he 
loved his fellow-men. He was a helper of the poor, a 
friend of the friendless, and many shared his kindness 
who never knew whence it came. His sweetness of dis- 
position no abuse ever embittered. He thought no evil. 
Hence his kind and unselfish interest in all who needed 
help. His generosity was only limited by his means, 
and was often exercised at personal inconvenience. 

Since the war closed there was occasionally percepti- 
ble in him a tinge of melancholy and sadness. This 
was due in part to the severe and successive bereavements 
in his circle of friends and relatives, and the scenes of 
desolation which he witnessed during the war. They 
were the visitations of melancholy which began early in 
the war and followed him through life. His nervous 
system showed the effects of the mental strain. He felt 
that in consequence of the war he could not become or 
accomplish what he had hoped. Such phrases as the 
"clouded afternoon of existence," the "sun setting in 
clouds," the " stirring of thoughts he could not express," 

G 



42 MUST JESUS BEAR THE CROSS ALONE? 

" the glimpse of plans he could not elaborate," the " con- 
sciousness of power never developed" were not infre- 
quent to those who possessed his confidence. Yet it was 
a matter of thankfulness that so much cheerfulness and 
vivacity continued to the last. Those who have no 
nerves little dreamed how much grace was required to 
keep him in the ordinary measure of composure, while 
he drank freely of the cup of a Father's appointment. 
His business engagements required frequent journeys to 
different parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, 
and Virginia. Such excursions served to relieve his de- 
pression. During the summer from 1876 onward he 
was alternately at his country residence at Chestnut 
Hill, Richfield Springs, Brighton, Staten Island, Sara- 
toga, and other well-known resorts. 

As the autumn returned he was always ready for 
work, and always had work to do. Among the wide 
circle of relatives who were suffering from the civil war, 
many will rise up to call him blessed. Clergymen and 
brethren, beloved, have reason to thank God for his 
benevolence. Widows and orphans will never forget his 
benefactions. When such a soul enters heaven, how the 
redeemed, who shared in his sympathy and aid on earth, 
will delight to recognize him as one who was able to help 
them bear the cross while here below ! If the redeemed 
of all ages and nations think over and rehearse to one 
another the history of the cross, they will remember the 
man, however humble and obscure, that man of Cyrene, 
that African, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who 
was copartner with Emanuel in the labor of carrying 
the cross to Cavalry. What must be the love which 
Christ bears for him in Heaven ! 

During the summer of 1885 it was necessary that he 



MALARIA. — M EN1 NGITIS. 43 

should visit Southeastern Virginia. He was anxious to 
attend a meeting of the Presbytery as a delegate from Dr. 
Pryor's church. While on the dames, it is supposed 
that he was attacked with malaria. On his return to 
Chestnut Hill (a suburb of Philadelphia) he was re- 
lieved by medical aid, but, as his intimate friends saw, 
" with his natural force somewhat abated." In the 
month of October, 1885, he requested his barber to trim 
his hair at the back part of the head, as some friends 
were then visiting Philadelphia from Virginia ; and as he 
was anxious (for he always was) to show them some at- 
tention, he invited them to ride in his private carriage. 
While thus exposed, muscular rheumatism at the back of 
the neck was succeeded by inflammation of the meninges 
of the spinal cord. During four weeks preceding his 
death the writer was his attending physician, though 
for a month j)reviously he had been under medical care. 
Within a week the severe pain at the base of the brain 
had ceased, and within two weeks the pain along the 
spinal column was relieved, so that he read his news- 
paper. He had the entire use of his mental jDOwers, and 
thus continued till his death. 

He was able to execute important legal papers and 
arrange all his worldly affairs. For two weeks before 
his departure he seemed wonderfully revived for one 
who was in his seventy-seventh year, — a marvel to phy- 
sicians as well as laymen who saw him. Such was the 
vigor of his faculties, the ease of his conversation, the 
regularity with which he partook of food and medicines, 
that all would fain cherish the hope of recovery. But 
his advanced age, and the preceding attack of malaria, 
prevented his constitution from rallying under the super- 
incumbent weight of disease, so serious in its character. 



44 LAST SICKNESS. 

His last sickness was attended with impressive inci- 
dents. So far as lie was concerned, everything was 
marked with calmness. About two weeks before his 
death he said to the writer, — " Do yon think that I can 
possibly recover ?" " If you will continue to use the rem- 
edies and nourishment we shall soon learn the result. 
You are now quite comfortable. Arrange your business 
affairs and let us wait on the Great Physician," was the 
reply. " I am here, dear sir, waiting upon God all the 
time. I am in the hands of the Lord, — a good place to 
be in. For the whole world I would not be anywhere 
else." Having received several notes of sympathy from 
friends at a distance, he replied, — " Tell them my reliance 
is alone on Christ, and has been there for half a century. 
My history will be, a sinner saved by marvellous grace." 
During this period he was distinguished for the same 
frankness and sincerity as ever, his words sometimes 
fraught with delicate reproof or still more delicate com- 
pliment. During the last week — the second in February, 
1886 — he said to his son, the only son and child now 
living, who came from Virginia to his bedside, and re- 
mained his faithful attendant till the end : " My son, so 
kind and attentive, you have done all a son could do for 
me." Then, with his usual pleasantry, as though his 
physician should have a compliment, he remarked, — 
" You are an exceedingly valuable man to have about the 
9 premises." But as his eye rested on his broken-hearted 
wife, he exclaimed, with deep emotion, — " I am more anx- 
ious for her future than all the rest. What will she do 
without me? I commend her to a covenant-keeping 
God, by whose blessing we have lived together so happily 
for nearly a quarter of a century. For myself I have 
no fears. For nearly half a century all my trust has 



TRIUMPH IN DEATH. 45 

been in Jesus. Tell Dr. Pryor" (his old pastor and life- 
long friend in Virginia) "that I send him my love. We 
have been together since boyhood. My membership is 
almost as old as his pastorate, and my eldership in his 
church almost as long. Our association has always been 
most pleasant on earth. We shall soon be together in 
heaven. Give to Clara" (his only son's wife) " and the 
dear children my parting blessing and prayers for their 
welfare. Tell my cousin, Charles Cabiniss" (a refined 
scholar in Virginia), " that he must try to meet me in 
peace. Say to all the family that I am to be buried in 
the church-yard in Burlington, New Jersey, because I 
yield my preference to the wishes of my beloved wife. 
In the final resurrection the glorified spirits will rise to life 
eternal in the twinkling of an eye, and then space on earth 
will be of no account. It matters not where my bones 
rest. I feel that my dear wife, in her strong attachment 
to me, will be gratified if my remains are deposited in 
the same ground with her own." He was conscious till 
the last, when he repeated audibly to those who were at 
his bedside these lines, and fell asleep in death : 

" The clouds disperse ; the light appears ; 
My sins are all forgiven. 
Triumphant grace has quelled my fears; 
Roll on, thou sun, fly swift my 3-ears, 
I'm on my -vva}- to heaven." 

These scenes of his last illness have been thus por- 
tr.ived for the benefit of survivors; not merely the large 
circle of friends and relatives who have expressed a de- 
sire to know the circumstances attending his sickness and 
death, but for the benefit of every reader who wishes to 
learn how a simple, childlike faith in Christ can support 
its possessor at the hour of death. 



46 FUNERAL. 

Mr. Booth died on Saturday, February 13, 1886. On 
Tuesday, a beautiful day of the following week, a large 
circle, containing the representatives of the oldest and 
best families of Philadelphia, gentlemen who have been 
prominent in the various professions, banks, trust com- 
panies, and mercantile life, assembled in the (capacious) 
rooms of the dwelling on West Walnut Street, to mani- 
fest their respect for his memory and sympathy with the 
afflicted household. After reading select passages from 
the Scriptures appropriate to the occasion, the following 
address commemorative of his virtues was read by Rev. 
Dr. Charles A. Dickey, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian 
Church, of which Mrs. Booth has been a member, for 
many years, and her husband has been a regular attend- 
ant since he resided in Philadelphia. 

" The Scripture that has set forth truth and comfort, as 
I have watched the close of this life, has been that beau- 
tiful description that Isaiah gives of God's faithful care 
of his own children, — ' And even to your old age I am he, 
and even to hoar hairs will I carry you. I have made, 
and I will bear. Even I will carry, and will deliver you.' 

" My own faith in God's promises, in the * truth as it is 
in Jesus,' in the real sustaining power of the religion of 
Christ, and in the reality of the things that are ' not 
seen,' has been greatly strengthened by my communion 
with this departed Christian friend, particularly as his 
faith and trust and childlike confidence in God have 
been manifested in these last days, when the hand of 
affliction has been laid upon him ; when things temporal 
were fading from his view, and things eternal were press- 
ing upon his attention. Nearly fifty years ago this life 
was given to Christ in faith. For more than a generation 



dr. dickey's address. 47 

it was dedicated to the church in the office of a ruling 
elder. Much as we have seen to admire and assure us, 
in this Christian life of faith, I think if we had the 
testimony of the friends of his earlier life, of the years 
of greater vigor and of more active service, if we had all 
the knowledge and experience of those who knew him 
longest and best, we would be still more assured that 
God, by his grace, had worked out of this life a ' strong 
faith that had glorified him,' and a faithful service that 
he will surely reward. 

" Mr. Booth was conspicuous for ' strong faith.' He 
reverenced the word of God. He loved God's house. 
The church was very dear to him. The entire depend- 
ence of a sinner upon the grace and blood of Christ was 
a doctrine that filled his faith so full that he had no 
room for doubts. I never knew a Christian who put 
more honor upon the essential and efficacious work of the 
Holy Spirit. It was the constant theme of his religious 
conversation. 

" We will remember the fruits of the Spirit as we saw 
them in his life. No one heard him speak other than 
kindly of others. He expressed his love for Christ by 
his 'love for the brethren.' In his own inner circle, 
into which it would be indelicate for me to publicly in- 
trude, in the closest relation of his life, there was a beau- 
tiful and abiding affection, that seemed like the flower 
of his faith, the ornament of a faithful life. When the 
vine is taken down the wall trembles ; when the wall is 
taken down the vine droops. 

" Let us thank Christ for all the consolation and faith 
and hope that he put into this life, for the tender mercy 
that made his end so peaceful and so full of confidence, 
and let us commit to Christ's tender care and sympathy 



48 LAUREL HILL. 

» 

his faithful and loving wife and all who mourn his de- 
parture, trusting that they will all, with those who have 
gone before, by the love and mercy of Christ, meet where 
they never part again." 

After a suitable prayer, the exercises at the house were 
closed and the funeral cortege started for Laurel Hill 
Cemetery. There the body was temporarily entombed 
in a vault belonging to family relatives. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Change of Scene.— A Village Church.— Communion Sabbath.— An Aged 
Patriarch.— The Voices of Nature and of Grace.— Funeral Sermon at 
" Shiloh."— Text : " He was a Good Man."— Faith and Works.—" He was 
also Just."— The Fruits of the Spirit.— Dr. Pryor's Testimony to the 
"Work and Worth of his Life-long Friend.— Mr. Booth's Liberality in 
Heart and Life.— Dr. Dickey's Letter to Dr. Pryor —"Our Members Die 
-Well."— Transfer to Burlington, N. J., April 13, 1886.— Sweet Immor- 
telles —The Two Newly-made Graves.— Farewell. 

On a beautiful Sabbath morning in spring— for the 
flowers appeared on the earth and the time of the sing- 
ing of birds had come (March 21, 1886)— scores of wor- 
shippers might be seen hastening to the Shiloh Church 
at Nottoway Court-House, " for thither the tribes go up," 
as in that elder day which the Psalmist celebrated. It is 
"Communion Sabbath," and a large congregation are 
gathered to partake of the Lord's Supper. While waiting 
to meet the Master of the feast, their venerable and ven- 
erated pastor improves the occasion to commemorate the 
life and services of one who began his membership and 
eldership about the time that the pastor began his pas- 
torate, fifty years ago. One of these two bosom friends 
whose souls — like David and Jonathan — were knit to- 
gether, is already beneath the sods of the valley ; the 
other — past fourscore — is ready, like a shock of corn 
gathered in its season, for the Master's summons,—" Come 
up higher!" Ashe rises in the pulpit and opens the 
Scriptures, the memories of a long life in the ministry 
flow in upon his soul. All nature is full of lessons to 
him. It is the hour of feeling. The touches of vernal 

7 49 



50 dr. pryor's sermon. 

light, the kisses of the south wind have wakened the 
earth and its loving energies from their winter's slumber. 
These voices of Nature, so sweet, so soothing, so sacred, 
calm his mind as, in j:>resence of a Saviour's memorials, he 
is about to speak of life, death, and the resurrection unto 
life. Our report of this discourse is from the columns 
of the New Era, a well-known Virginia paper. 

"HE WAS A GOOD MAN." 

FUNERAL SERMON OF THE LATE E. G. BOOTH. 

Preached in Shiloh Church, Nottoway County, Sunday, March 21, by the 

Rev. Dr. Pryor. 

On Sunday, March 21, in Shiloh Church, the vener- 
able Rev. Dr. Theodorick Pryor preached the funeral 
sermon of his life-long friend, the late E. G. Booth, 
Esq. A very large congregation, gathered from all parts 
of the surrounding country, was in attendance, and 
listened with deep attention to the impressive words of 
the speaker. 

After the opening hymn was sung by the congregation, 
Dr. Pryor read a portion of the fifteenth chapter of the 
First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians. 
He then offered a fervent prayer, in which he referred 
to him whose funeral eulogy he was about to pronounce 
as a ruling elder in the church for a joeriod of over forty 
years, and a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus, and 
as one who had entered upon that everlasting rest that 
remaineth to the people of God. He earnestly prayed 
that all in the congregation might be taught so to num- 
ber their days that they would apply their hearts unto 
wisdom ; and that, as none could know when and where 
they should die, they might be ready to meet our Lord 



"he was a good man." 51 

in the skies, and that they might leave behind them a 
bright testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus. 

The congregation then sung the hymn commencing, — 

" How blest the righteous when he dies." 

Dr. Pryor announced as the text of his discourse a 
passage from St. Luke's Gospel, twenty-third chapter 
and fiftieth verse : " And, behold, there was a man named 
Joseph, a counsellor ; and he was a good man, and a just." 

Dr. Pryor also read the three verses following his text : 

(" The same had not consented to the counsel and deed 
of them :) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews ; who 
also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man 
went unto Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. And 
he took it down and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a 
sepulchre, that was hewn in stone, wherein never man 
before was laid." 

He then spoke substantially as follows : These verses 
describe one of the most extraordinary funerals that ever 
occurred on this earth. The mourners were a few poor 
women. When the body was taken down from the cross, 
Joseph, the counsellor, wrapped it in linen and laid it in 
the tomb. The women followed and marked where it 
was laid, and prepared spices that they might embalm it. 
A very important person in the transaction recorded was 
Joseph of Arimathea, and I have chosen as a text for 
my discourse on this occasion the first verse I have read 
in the narrative, which records that " he was a good man, 
and a just." 

There is a very strong propensity — even among pro- 
fessors of religion — to take a part of religion for the 
whole, to take a part of God's law and render strict obe- 
dience to that, and please God in that, and neglect other 



52 "and a just." 

features of the law which are quite as important. God 
has been pleased, in connection with his church, to ordain 
certain rites and ceremonies, and such are the tendencies 
of our natures that we lay hold of certain of these, and 
observe them with great punctuality and obedience, and 
entirely lose sight of others. There were those in our 
Saviour's time who cleansed the outside of the platter, 
who tithed mint, and anise, and cummin, but neglected to 
observe the weightier matters of the law. In all ages 
there have been those who have forgotten that religion 
takes hold of the inner as well as the outer man. There 
are two sets of errorists in the world One class com- 
prises those j>ersons who are seeking, by works of out- 
ward obedience, to work out a righteousness for them- 
selves. 

Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, in condemning 
works as the ground of righteousness, has reference to 
these men. The grandest argument ever formed by 
mortal man is that in which he declared that " by the 
works of the law no man shall be saved." The dav for 
that has passed. The apostle James declares that " faith, 
if it hath not works is dead." Paul asserts that " with- 
out faith it is impossible to please God." There is, how- 
ever, no conflict between these two inspired apostles. 
There is among Christians a very great tendency to un- 
derrate good works. Some not only believe, but tremble ; 
but this alone is not enough. In connection with our faith 
there must be an internal change, which shall make us 
acceptable with God, which shall qualify us for dwelling 
with God. Where religion exists it makes a man a good 
man, — it alters his character and changes the internal 
man. We all come into this life with natures opposed to 
God. Job says, " Who can bring a clean thing out of an 



"lawyers can be good men." 53 

unclean ?" But it is the object of grace to make one 
who was totally depraved clean. In that remarkable 
interview which our Lord had with Nicodemus, the latter 
was informed not only that except a man be born again 
he could not enter the kingdom of God, but that he can- 
not see it ; and Paul tells us that if we are in Christ we are 
new creatures, — a new creation. If we are in a state of 
nature we are not in a state of grace ; if we are not in a 
state of grace we are yet " in the gall of bitterness and 
in the bonds of iniquity." If a man is a true Christian, 
he is a good man, in his family and in the community. 

The text says that not only was Joseph a good man, 
but he was also just. There is no greater and more fatal 
fallacy than for a man to think that he is a Christian 
when he is not just, and does not observe the Golden 
Rule. We may belong to any or to all the churches and 
not get to Heaven. What are the fruits of the Spirit ? 
They are righteousness and true holiness. Not only is 
Christ's righteousness imputed to us, but is made inher- 
ent in us ; and when this work is wrought on us by the 
Eternal Spirit, old things are passed away and all things 
are become new ; we are now good men, however bad we 
may have been before. This is what the Holy Spirit by 
Luke says. It is not impossible for a lawyer to be a 
good man. Joseph was a counsellor, — a member of the 
Jewish Sanhedrim, — but he did not consent to the cruci- 
fixion of our Lord. He went boldly to Pilate and 
begged the body of Jesus. All his disciples had for- 
saken him and fled. The good women from Galilee 
were looking on. Joseph was a good man, and he takes 
down the body and lays it in the new tomb. 

By the necessity of the case I am shut up to brevity. 
I have chosen the story of Joseph, the counsellor of 



54 "a liberal christian." 

Arimathea, because the eulogy pronounced upon him — 
" he was a good man" — holds good in regard to our dear 
friend whose funeral sermon I preach to-day, Edwin G. 
Booth. "He was a a;ood man." I knew him from 
twelve years of age. If I knew any man well that man 
was Mr. Edwin G. Booth, and the dictates of my con- 
science bear me out in saying that " he was a good man." 

About 1838, at Nottoway Court-House, he made a 
profession of religion. Soon after the outbreak of the 
war he went North and married a second time, and, as 
a consequence of his marriage, remained there ; but he 
retained his connection with this church, and regularly 
every year he was one of the most generous of contribu- 
tors to its support. He also very frequently, as a delegate, 
attended the sessions of the Synod, and always bore his 
own expenses. In everything, I think I may say, he 
was conscientious. His first w T ife told me that when he 
had been away from home, she always knew when he 
was returning ; for she could hear him singing way down 
the lane. As far as I have reason to believe, his walk 
and conversation in all the relations of life were upright. 
" He was a good man." I never heard any person at- 
tribute to him anything like fraud, deception, maltreat- 
ment. If there was ever any reliable charge affecting 
his moral character brought against him, it never came 
to my knowledge. 

There were features of his character which some peojrie 
did not understand. I knew him intimately from twelve 
years of age, and believe him to have been almost as per- 
fect a Christian as any man I ever knew. He preferred 
the Presbyterian Church, but his heart went out in love 
as well for the members of the Methodist, Baptist, Epis- 
copal, and other churches. His heart was a generous 



"OUR MEMBEES DIE WEI. I,.' 55 

heart. I know this, and that, while lie was an amiable 
Christian, he based his hope of salvation on the grace of 
God. He struggled to do what he believed to be his 
Christian duty, and when he came to die he was prepared 
to leave this earth. I received a long letter from the 
pastor of the church he attended in Philadelphia, the 
Rev. Dr. Dickey, describing his peaceful and tri- 
umphant death. As he was going down the dark valley 
there were no doubts in his mind, but he was uplifted 
and sustained by the sure and certain hope he cherished. 
This is the way I want all my members to die. I hope 
God will give me grace to die so. Mr. Wesley used to 
say, — speaking of the early members of Methodism called 
away by death, — " our members die well." When our 
spirits are passing from earth to the spirit world it will be 
fortunate for us if we shall be able to feel that all is well. 
Religion is well worth living for and dying for. " It is 
not all of life to live, nor all of death to die," and we may 
so live that in our last hours we shall have an absolute 
guarantee that it shall be well with us in the future. 
When we come to die we shall each one want something 
better than there is in this world, — some one to be with 
us who will stick closer than a brother, who will walk 
with us through the valley and shadow of death. Jesus 
Christ, whom Joseph of Arimathea took down from the 
cross, will, in that trying moment, be with you, if you so 
desire, and you may sing — 

" Wc two are so joined, 
He'll not go to glory and leave me behind. " 

I hope the man who shall preach your funeral sermon 
will be able to bear the same testimony in your behalf 
that I hear in behalf of my deceased brother. 



56 TRANSFER TO BURLINGTON. 

Fifty-four years ago, the coming first Sunday in May, 
I preached my first sermon in this church. How many 
are here now that were here then ? Possibly there may 
be one besides myself. Of those who were here then, 
and who cast in their lot with the people of God, and 
were "faithful unto death," there were none around 
whose minds at death dark clouds gather, but they went 
out of the world bearing a bright testimony to the truths 
of Christianity. What are we as a church doing? 
What are we living for? Is it to make our calling and 
election sure, or is it for the perishable things of this 
world? Are we trying to enjoy the world's fading 
pleasures? There is something infinitely better, — the 
grace of God in Jesus Christ, which will insure you a 
place in glory. 

Dr. Pryor then referred to the fact that the members 
of the church were about to celebrate the communion of 
the Lord's Supper, saying it was a sweet Sabbath day, 
and he hoped it would be a day of joy to the spirits of 
all those who should gather about the Lord's table to 
celebrate that feast ; he did not wish any person to leave 
the house, and he would be gratified if all present should 
remain. 

The congregation then joined in singing the hymn, 



commencing- 



" How condescending and how kind 
Was Clod's eternal Son." 



There is at Burlington, New Jersey, on the banks of 
the Delaware, with a beautiful outlook over the fertile 
valley of the river, a small cemetery of the Episcopal 



SWEET IMMORTELLES — FAREWELL. 57 

Church, a peaceful and beautiful enclosure, where the 
last remains of some of the most distinguished families 
in the State and nation are reposing. Stately forms of 
cypresses and weeping willows indicate the spot, while 
the green sod above their graves is starred with daisies 
and violets, within sound of the murmuring river, within 
the limits of the city of Burlington. 

In the early morning of April 13, 1886, a sad proces- 
sion might be seen on its way from Philadelphia to Bur- 
lington, composed of four jDersons, — one of whom was 
carrying some sweet immortelles for the last resting- 
place of his friend, — that they might consign his body 
to the tomb. Within easy access from the high road 
may be seen three square, white marble tombs, which 
mark the remains of Mr. Elihu Chauncey, his wife, and 
youngest daughter. To the west of Mr. Chauncey's, and 
in a line with all three, are two newly-made graves, the 
outer of which is covered with a beautiful sarcophagus 
of pure white marble, on one side of which is inscribed 
the name of our departed friend. The other grave, 
which lies between Mr. Chauncey's and Mr. Booth's, is 
not yet occupied. 

There, all that was mortal of this lawyer, legislator, 
and Christian philanthropist, of this friend so tender and 
strong, was committed to our mother earth, while his 
immortal spirit is now enjoying the communion of saints 
in the presence of his Saviour. And there, with this 
imperfect sketch of his life, which stretches an unbroken 
arch of beauty and utility, of sincerity and truth, from 
the valley of the James to the banks of the Delaware, — 
we, too, must say farewell. 



APPENDIX. 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT AND AFFECTION. 

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." — Prov. 

xvii. 17. 



59 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 



From the Richmond Sentinel. 

OUK NEXT GOVERNOR, 
EDWIN G. BOOTH, ESQ., OF NOTTOWAY. 

The time is fast approaching when the representative 
men of Virginia will assemble in convention to select a 
Governor for this grand old commonwealth. We use the 
word " select" purposely ; for whilst, theoretically, the 
nominee of the convention will have to undergo the 
forms of an election at the time appointed by law, it is 
well understood by all persons at all familiar with Vir- 
ginia politics that a nomination by the State convention 
which meets in Richmond, on the 8th of August, is 
equivalent to an election. It is, therefore, of the first 
importance that they throughout the State should select 
their best men to represent them in the convention, — 
men of intelligence and ripe judgment, with souls and 
hearts so large that they will scorn to take part in any 
petty rivalry or to be influenced by personal jealousy. 

This, we say, is the first duty of the people, and we are 

confident that the good and true men, in every quarter, 

will concur with us in this view. The time has not yet 

arrived, however, for the exercise of this duty, and until 

the voters are called upon to select their delegates to the 

convention it is incumbent upon them to " look over the 

61 



62 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 

field" and consider the claims of the various candidates 
and aspirants. There is too much indifference among the 
people at large, in regard to the selection of their officers. 
The masses allow themselves, in many instances, to be 
swayed by the dicta of leaders instead of making their 
own preferences influential in party counsels. We hope 
that a different rule will prevail in the coming camj)aign. 
The next Governor of Virginia should be a man ca- 
pable of guiding the good old ship of state safely through 
any sea, however strong. He must possess every essential 
requisite for an efficient and satisfactory discharge of the 
important and responsible duties devolving upon him, 
and at the same time be able to reconcile antagonisms 
and harmonize conflicting interests. He must be not 
only " honest and capable," Mr. Jefferson's indispensable 
tests, but he must be a man of firmness, patriotism, and 
far-reaching sagacity. Seldom, if ever, has there been 
a time in the history of Virginia when there was more 
need of such a man at the helm. " Can he be found ?" 
is the natural inquiry upon the lips of every reader. 
We answer, unhesitatingly, in the affirmative ; and with 
the confident assurance that all who know him will 
" ratify the nomination," we name Edwin G. Booth, of 
Nottoway. He is the man. Were the circulation of the 
Sentinel confined merely to this and the adjacent coun- 
ties, we might be excused from special remarks in respect 
to the eminent qualifications of Mr. Booth for the ex- 
alted position of Governor of Virginia; and in other 
counties, where his name is perhaps less familiar, we 
might leave to his old friends, who have served with 
him in the General Assembly, the agreeable task of mak- 
ing known his peculiar fitness, at this juncture, for the 
chief magistracy of the Old Dominion. But we cannot 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 63 

refrain from saying, for the benefit of those who may 
not happen to know Mr. Booth, that he is a Virginia 
gentleman of the old school, distinguished alike for his 
virtue, ability, and patriotism. He is eminently con- 
servative in his views, but is sufficiently progressive to 
keep " abreast of the times." There can be no doubt of 
his identity with Virginia, for he is one of the largest 
landed proj^rietors in the State, and is now engaged in an 
effort to colonize one of the southwestern counties with 
thrifty and industrious settlers. He is foremost among 
the friends of immigration into Virginia, is a steadfast 
advocate of general education, and has a record on the 
internal improvement question of which he may well be 
proud. Placed in the gubernatorial chair, every energy 
of his clear mind and every pulsation of his heart would 
be devoted to the advancement of Virginia, and to the 
resuscitation or enlargement of her varied industrial in- 
terests. He would have " no friends to reward, no enemies 
to punish," but only Virginia, the dear old mother of us 
all, to serve with undivided affection. 

We hope that the convention will select Mr. Booth 
and, therefore, insure his election. We know that other 
distinguished gentlemen have strong claims and zealous 
friends to press them upon the attention of the conven- 
tion ; but we must say, in all frankness, that no one who 
has yet been mentioned in connection with the office of 
Governor seems so free from objection as Edwin G. 
Booth. 



64 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 

From the Richmond Whig. 
EDWIN G. BOOTH HER REPRESENTATIVE MAN. 

Now that the great National Centennial Exhibition is 
ended, and will henceforth take its place in history as the 
grandest display of human industry and of international 
comity that the world has ever beheld, the intelligent and 
reflecting visitor from Virginia cannot help asking himself, 
What part did the sons and daughters of the glorious old 
Commonwealth take in achieving the admitted success of 
this wonderful celebration of a grand historic event, in 
which she led one hundred years ago ? 

As a State, Virginia, for reasons satisfactory to a ma- 
jority of her law-makers at the time, and which it were 
idle now to discuss, refused to participate in the celebra- 
tion. Of the impolicy of her course there is, perhaps, 
no difference of opinion among the many thousands of 
Virginians who have visited Philadelphia during the last 
six months. As an offset to the chagrin felt by so many 
of our people that the State had failed to avail itself of 
such an opportunity of inviting the skill and capital of 
all nations to come and help us to regain our former 
leading position, there was a thrill of pleasure awakened 
in every liberal mind in contemplating the generous and 
patriotic effort of one whole-souled Virginian, who, un- 
aided and alone, gave the State an honorable position 
among her sisters and in the eyes of foreigners. What 
Virginian ever left the Centennial grounds without feel- 
ing and saying, " God bless you !" to Edwin G. Booth, 
who, at his own expense and in the face of many difficul- 
ties, erected an " Old Virginia Building" in the choicest 
spot of all the Park, and for six months not only wel- 
comed all Virginians, but all who sought its cooling 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 65 

shades, whether from Europe, Asia, Africa, or the 
islands of the sea, and entertained them with that unos- 
tentatious, genial hospitality which lie would have ex- 
tended to guests at his home in Nottoway? Here, day 
after day, and week after week, till half a year has rolled 
away, Mr. Booth has stood the representative man of his 
loved "Old Virginia," and making all feel that the State, 
in spite of her politicians, had indeed an honored and 
an honorable place at the Centennial assemblage of the 
United States and of the nations. 

Because of his being in part a citizen of Philadelphia, 
he was enabled to sustain the reputation of Virginia by 
his large-hearted generosity in doing, as a citizen, what 
her legislature — though I will not say with what kind of 
feeling — failed to do, to wit : To erect upon the Centen- 
nial grounds a house at which her citizens never failed to 
assemble to pay their resjiects to him, of whose character 
they had cause to be proud and to exchange congratula- 
tions. There, too, assembled many of the best people 
from every part of our extended country, and distin- 
guished foreigners, to greet him as Virginia's represen- 
tative. I am well assured that no one of our many dis- 
tinguished sons would be welcomed more heartily as the 
Governor of Virginia, not only by our people at home, 
but by the thousands beyond the limits of the State, who 
made his acquaintance at Philadelphia. 

From a Southern Review. 

In a leading Southern Review for March, 188G, we find 
this admirable tribute, written by a Virginian of dis- 
tinction, who signs his initials W. C. K., well known in 
Southeastern Virginia as a lawyer and agriculturist. 

He writes thus of his life-long friend : " Mr. Booth and 

9 



6Q TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 

myself were united as founders of the State Agricultural 
Society. He was a citizen who would do honor to any 
community ; always showing the deepest interest in the 
public welfare, and never failing to vote at every election 
for the man whom he believed fitted to fill the position. 
Our pathways were almost the same, living in the same 
county, educated as lawyers, and interested in agriculture. 
Mr. Booth was a devoted friend and active member of 
the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural So- 
ciety. His loss will be severely felt in the Society, for he 
availed himself of every opportunity to aid its welfare, 
so vital to the interests of Virginia. His philanthropic 
efforts in behalf of prisoners during the earlier years of 
the civil war are worthy of all commendation. Being 
disqualified by age from military service, he accomplished 
more for destitute families than if he had been in ser- 
vice, by supplying their wants. He was always ready to 
assist those who had been imposed upon, to minister to 
the suffering when in his power, and to help those in 
need. His unostentatious hospitality at the Virginia 
House during the Centennial Exhibition, when he ex- 
tended a hearty welcome, at his own private expense, 
daily at two p.m. for six months, with a simple free 
lunch, consisting of cheese and crackers, sweet cakes, 
lemonade, and claret punch to tens of thousands during 
the sultry heat of that summer, will never be forgotten. 
He realized ' that it was more blessed to give than to 
receive.' For fifty years I never knew him to utter an 
unkind word or entertain an unkind thought. 

" As a friend he was faithful unto death, and as kind as 
the demands on his friendship were great. As a father 
he was always affectionate and firm. His life impressed 
itself on his children, and they revered his counsels. He 



TRIBUTES OF RESPE< T. 67 

lias left them, beside his estate, the best legacy — a good 
name. As a Christian, he manifested traits which con- 
vinced us of the power of religion. Though naturally 
impulsive, of excitable nature, of strong feelings, they 
were controlled by divine grace. Under the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, he was, indeed, a witness for Christ, 
ready to let his light shine and to go to the -take in de- 
fence of the truth. At the Centennial he secured a small 
portion of one of the white oak timbers, from which a 
cane was made, headed with the American eagle in ivory, 
affixed by a broad gold band, with the letters E. G. B. 
to W. C. K., and presented it to me, whose great-grand- 
father is in an oil-painting on the walls of Independence 
Hall." 



House of Eepresentatives IT. S., 

Washington, I). C, May 2, 1885. 

My dear Sir, — Your very kind letter, asking us to 
go to your Virginia home and make a visit, came duly to 
hand. 

Mrs. Randall and I greatly appreciate your proffered 
hospitality. Receive our sincerest thanks. I cannot ac- 
cept, but I am none the less obliged. 

I am better, but not well. 

Truly, 

Sam. J. Randall. 

E. G. Booth, Esq. 



68 VOICES OF FRIENDS. 

Consulate of the United States, 

Hong Kong, February 23, 1886. 

Mr. E. G. Booth, 

Philadelphia. 

My dear Sir, — My friend and neighbor, Mr. E. B. 
Belilros, will hand you this letter. He is one of the most 
prosperous merchants and prominent citizens of this go- 
ahead colony. He wishes to visit Philadelphia during 
his tour, and I hope you may be able to extend to him 
such courtesy and attention as will make his visit pleas- 
ant. 

Any service you may render him will be fully appre- 
ciated by 

Your friend, 

E. E. Withers, 

U. S. Consul. 



VOICES OF FEIENDS. 

Buena Vista, Ala., February 22, 1886. 
Dr. Edwin G. Booth : 

My dear Sir, — I truly sympathize with you at the 
loss of my old and esteemed friend, your dear father. I 
was prepared for the worst, for as far back as when you 
were last here his health was failing. I feel the loss very 
much, as but few of my old friends remain. Nearly all 
in Alabama gone. 

We have had a very cold winter. To-day is fair and 
fine out-doors. 

With best regards to you and family, 

I remain, very truly, 

Geo. P. Taylor. 



VOICES OF FRIENDS. 69 

Lexington, Virginia, March 1. L886. 
Mrs. H. C. Booth, 

1526 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 

My dear Mrs. Booth, — Among your many friends 
there is no one who sympathizes with you more truly 
in your own great sorrow than I do. 

Your beloved husband was a friend of mine for more 
than forty years. While a member of the General As- 
sembly of Virginia from the County of Nottoway, he 
always gave me his confidence and his vote, in my effort 
to build up the Virginia Institute ; and in later years, 
when our buildings had been destroyed during the war 
and I was afterwards trying to rebuild them, he gave 
me his cordial co-operation, and you hold now five thou- 
sand dollars of the V. I. bonds as evidences of his and 
your interest in my work. But for this support I should 
have failed in what I was trying to do. 

You have great comfort in knowing that his heart had 
been fully given to God; and in his life and in his death 
you have the assurance that all is well with him. Since 
I had the pleasure of seeing you at your home, in March, 
1884, God has taken from me my beloved wife, after a 
happy union of nearly fifty years. I think I sent you a 
volume of her poems. If not, I will send you a copy. 
It contains her likeness. I have a photo, of Mr. Booth 
and yourself, which he kindly sent me. 

And now, with my cordial regard and sympathy, I 

remain very truly your friend, 

Francis H. Smith. 

University of Virginia, February 25, 1886. 
Dr. Edwin G. Booth : 

Dear Dr. Booth, — I would not claim your attention 
again at such a time, but cannot refrain from thanking you 



70 VOICES OF FRIENDS. 

for your kindness in sending me that most interesting 
obituary — Philadelphia Inquirer, February 15, 1886 — 
notice of your honored father. If he had done nothing 
else than build that Old Virginia House at the Centennial, 
it would insure his name being held in tender remem- 
brance by every true Virginian. How beautiful was that 
last testimony your father gave to the brightening reali- 
ties of a Christian faith ! You have much to comfort 
you. With kindest regards for yourself, Mrs. Booth, and 
your son Edwin, 

Sincerely your friend, 

M. S. Smith. 

Giles County, Virginia, March 2, 1886. 
Dr. Edwin G. Booth: 

My dear Sir, — I have delayed longer than I ought 
to have done, offering our sympathies for your bereave- 
ment in the death of your father, for whom I ever had 
the highest regard and respect. We had been fond 
friends for more than forty years. I was much pleased 
to see such flattering notices to his memory, — -justly so, 
indeed ; true. I have known few men who have done more 
acts of charity and deeds of friendship than he did, 
during his long and useful life. It ought to be a very 
great comfort to you that a parent should leave a name 
to be spoken of in terms of admiration by all who 
knew him. 

Your cousin unites in very kind regards to yourself 
and family. 

Truly your friend, 

William Eggleston. 



VOICES OF FRIENDS. 71 

Staunton. Virginia. 2. If). '86. 
Mrs. Edwin G. Booth : 

My deai: Madam, — Opening one of our three county 
papers yesterday morning, the Spectator, my eye caught 
sight of the smaller of the two enclosed paragraphs. 
The other I cut out of a Lynchburg, Virginia, paper 
later in the day. When I saw a paragraph a month ago, 
perhaps, in the Richmond Dispatch, that mentioned his 
first attack, I had my fears, although it stated he had 
rallied. So, on last evening a week ago, on the Long- 
Meadows, near Fishersville, where my last letter to him 
was written, a relative said to me, "Cousin Marshall, I 
saw a late paper, — I think the Richmond State, of last 
Monday, — in which I read that he had relapsed, and that 
his son was telegraphed for." The paper had been given 
to my son, with others. So I was to some extent pre- 
pared for the sad news. 

On Monday morning, going into Richmond with Gen- 
eral Wickham, whose guest I had been for some days, 
and intending to leave the city in the evening, I called 
at the St. Charles, to hear from him through the Calli- 
haiis, when Mrs. C, immediately on my exchanging sal- 
utations, and before I could ask her, inquired of me. with 
much interest, "when I had heard from Mr. Booth," as 
also did her husband a few minutes after. They had 
no later information than that referred to in the State, of 
Richmond. 

I am a careful reader of the Dispatch, and do not 
think, had it mentioned his death, that I could have 
overlooked it, and yet my eye met it on yesterday morn- 
ing for the first time. Alas! however, in the course of 
the lengthening years, we must expect the severance of 
the closest and dearest ties. Vet there is a sad, sad 



72 VOICES OF FRIENDS. 

shock to the survivors, and we can't nerve ourselves 
against it. To you, my clear madam, I can well picture 
to myself the weight and power of that blow that severs 
the closest tie we recognize here. And this, too, when, 
because of your feeble health for years, you scarcely re- 
garded it as possible that he would be called to precede 
you to the spirit land. 

When I, now midway in my seventieth year, look back 
to December, 1848, when we first met in Richmond as 
members of that session of the Legislature of Virginia, 
and because of the awful visitation of the cholera in 
the memorable spring of 1849, were driven from Rich- 
mond to Warrenton Springs, to revise the " Code" of 
Virginia, down to our last meeting, the chain of friend- 
ship between us was never for a moment otherwise than 
bright. 

Now that the grave has closed over the remains of 
one in whose bosom pulsated a heart ever warm and 
affectionate, pardon me for asking the privilege of uniting 
with you in mourning the loss of one of the nearest and 
most esteemed friends I have ever claimed. 

With the offer of my sincerest sympathy, I am, my 

dear madam, 

Truly yours, 

J. Marshall McCue. 

108 Main Street, Kichmond, Februaiy 24, 1886. 
Mrs. Booth : 

Dear Madam, — At the regular meeting of the Rich- 
mond City Mission, held Saturday, February 20, the 
ladies were informed of the death of your honored hus- 
band, and while we hesitate lest we intrude upon your 
grief, we cannot forbear assuring you of our sincere 



VOICES OF FRIENDS. 73 

and heartfelt sympathy for you in this time of great 
sorrow. 

Though comparatively few of our number had the 
privilege of Mr. Booth's acquaintance and friendship, 
his kind and noble acts were known to all, and we mourn 
the loss of a true friend, whose faithful services and un- 
varying courtesy gained for him a place in our hearts 
and memories. 

He ever manifested the greatest interest in the City 
Mission, and not only in words, but in generous deeds, 
proved the warm feelings of his heart for the work in 
which we are engaged. You may not know that the 
house in which we carry on our mission work we have 
used for nearly two years rent free, and that for this we 
are indebted to your good husband. 

The upper part of the house is occupied by three old 
persons, who have been for many months comfortably 
sheltered through the liberality of their kind benefactor, 
for whom they now grieve. But for him how glorious 
the exchange, how blessed the rest upon which he has 
entered ! 

Having faithfully served the Master he so loved, hav- 
ing "kept the faith" and "finished his earthly course," 
he now " rests from his labors, and his works do follow 
him." 

Again, dear madam, let me assure you of the warm 
sympathy of the ladies of the Richmond City Mission. 
We pray God to bless and comfort you. He is ever 
" touched" with our infirmities, and unto Him we ear- 
nestly commend you. 

Very truly yours, 

Mrs. John Addison, 

s, (■,■( tary H. C. M, 
10 



74 vorcES of friends. 

Norfolk, Virginia, February 15, 1886. 
Mrs. Booth : 

Dear Madam, — When a good man goes, all good 
men left behind deplore the event ; those, whose life- 
long friend that good man was, especially deplore it. 

In Mr. Booth I lose a friend of forty years' standing. 
In sadness and sorrow I received the tidings that the 
grave has closed over him ; that no more forever, in this 
world, am I to feel the grasp of his friendly hand ; to 
hear his kindly voice. 

I offer you my sincere condolence. 

As this morning, on the way to this city, I passed near 
that grove to which he was wont to turn with so much 
interest, and where his broad hospitality was dispensed, 
I caught myself lamenting that the doors of the home it 
shades were closed to open no more to that warm hand, 
which grasped the coming and blessed the parting guest. 
But, madam, let us turn away from the scenes of this 
world and, looking above, strive so to live as to go where 
he has gone ; that our reunion may be where Heaven 
will be home and eternity the lifetime. 

I am, madam, 

Yours sincerely, 

James Alfred Jones. 

Norfolk, Virginia, February 16, 1886. 

Dear Mrs. Booth, — We have heard the sad intelli- 
gence of Mr. Booth's death with profound sorrow, and 
both my son and I desire to express to you our sincere 
sympathy in your heavy bereavement. 

Our newspapers throughout the State have paid trib- 
utes to his worth and virtues, and it is a pleasure to 
know that he was esteemed and beloved by his country- 



VOICES OF FRIENDS. 75 

men. We doubt not but that be has gone to a better 
world. 

Sincerely and truly yours, 

II. H. Baker. 

Shawsville P. O., "Madison," Montgomery County, Virginia, 

February 15, 1886. 

My sympathy is deep and sincere in your great be- 
reavement, my dear Mrs. Booth. The announcement of 
your dear and excellent husband's death, in our news- 
paper to-day, was a shock and surprise to me. I had 
last seen him well, though sorrow-stricken, a short time 
before I came up to the mountains to make a long visit 
to my daughter. Of late the deaths among those I have 
known and valued have come, " not singly but in battal- 
ions." If all were as well prepared for the change to 
another world as I think was Mr. Booth, their future 
happiness would seem secure. 

I hope, dear Mrs. Booth, that strength will be given 
you to bear your loss, and commending you to our 
Heavenly Father's gentle care, I remain, 

Your friend, 

Most truly and affectionately, 
Julia Gardiner Tyler. 

Nottoway C. H., Virginia, February 16, 1886. 
Mrs. E. G. Booth : 

My dear Mrs. Booth, — Please accept assurance of 
my profound sympathy and tender condolence. Mr. 
Booth was one of my oldest and truest friend-. For 
forty-seven years he was an earnest and consistent mem- 
ber of the church of which I am pastor. His removal 
by death inflicts upon the church a most serious loss. 
We all esteemed and loved him. As a ruling elder, he 



76 " HE WAS A GOOD MAN, AND A JUST." 

often represented the church in Presbytery and Synod. 
We greatly lament his death. But it is the Lord ; let 
him do " what seemeth him good." I do not entertain 
the shadow of a doubt as to his present joy and felicity 
in the presence of the Lord. May God bless, comfort, 
and sustain you, and by his grace prepare you to meet 
your departed husband in glory. 

Yours in Christian affection, 

Theod. Pryor. 

P.S. — I expect to preach the funeral sermon of Mr. 
Booth at Shiloh, on the third Sunday in March. 



'HE WAS A GOOD MAN— AND A JUST." 

How fair and how lovely it is to behold 

The sun in its splendor approaching the west ! 

Its race is near run, and refulgent as gold, 

It glides through the ether as hastening to rest. 

It sinks, — but in sinking 'tis only to rise, 
Its splendor and glory afresh to display ; 

It sets, — but in other and far distant skies 
It rises and reigns in the brightness of day. 

Yet far more resplendent than this is the scene 

Of the good man approaching the confines of time; 

All loving, all peaceful, all calm and serene, 
He passes away with a brightness sublime. 

He dies, — but no pencil can ever display 

The splendor and glory that burst on his sight, 

As guided by angels he speeds on his way, 

Through the portals of praise to the temple of light. 

D. 



i 1 mil WIT 



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